


Change

by Qilin_Arcane



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Body Dysphoria, Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Comfort, Death, Depression, Dissociation, Dysphoria, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Form manipulation, Found Family, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Multi, Panic Attacks, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Reader-Insert, Suicide, Undertale Genocide Route, dark themes, have faith everything will be okay, if its not a but cringe im not doing a good job, it's just a bit sad is all, more tags to come, you really just want some hot tea
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-03-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:15:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 35,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22354717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Qilin_Arcane/pseuds/Qilin_Arcane
Summary: You, the reader, have come to the conclusion that you were not adept to change. Not at all. Not being able to take things in stride as they come you're practically paralyzed with fear and indecision. This helps nothing when you've also realized you are in the middle of an ongoing, decidedly deadly, mess. With the knowledge you don't belong, you do what you can to avoid the attention of others all while keeping your tattered sanity together, hoping beyond all hope you can sit this one out, hide away and never be seen by anyone.This doesn't work however, you being made to play a rather big part in this story, you attract the attention of far too many far too important monsters.You could do with a good long nap.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 34





	1. find some tea, if not, take a nap!

**Author's Note:**

> This work is inspired by; 'Existence Strikes Back!' written by Underwraps! 
> 
> hope its not too boring.

It was a lovely evening, the kind of evening where if you happen to possess the body of a frog and happened to have suffered several hot summer days without a lick of moisture. This evening could quite possibly be the greatest you’ve ever had aside from that time you fell in love and got married in Vegas.

You were not a frog, in fact, for the briefest moment you weren’t even aware of who, or what you are much less what a frog was. No, in this briefest of moments you were the soft spluttering drops of chilled rain and tickling flower petals. The gray world above you, everchanging in hues of just one color. You were the thickened sweet aroma mixing with wet earth, and the saturated clothing, clinging, restricting, and uncomfortable.

The moment the discomfort became noticeable, was the moment, your moment, has passed. And you were no longer one with the rain, the breeze and earth. You knew full well who you were, you had a name, a home, a family, a job, hell, even a pet of all things.

You knew this very well in fact, that you knew well enough that somehow, despite knowing you have these, they eluded you. The memories of yesterday escaping you, and the days before that, and years and decades. Somehow, you have ended up here, in this unfamiliar, strangely familiar predicament.

You sat up, feeling renewed. Invigorated somehow despite the soggy clothing, your limbs, you knew were not your own were buzzing with a foreign feeling. It was something else to ignore and push back to the recess of your mind, only to keep your sanity intact. You weren’t sure how to react fully at the very fact you were no longer in possession of your own body. Not that you can remember what you looked like before, but this… You lift your hands up and flex their tiny feminine little digits, no this was not yours.

You decided, hurriedly to look around the room. Breathing was a must after all.

This cave was damp, like you. Dark, tall, and well-lit despite itself. Perhaps it had something to do with the gaping hole you were just staring out of a moment ago.

Or maybe it was magic.

That was a joke of course, there’s no such thing as magic. Something to keep your mood light. Though you dare not laugh, not a sound that is not your own shall not be uttered for now. Lest you lose it.

You soon find yourself strolling along the chilled walls. Your fingers lightly brushing over its rough and eroding exterior. With a stick in your hand you found a small amount of joy waving it around purposelessly.

Passing by a depth into the circular room, you decided to pass it by in favor of completing your fifth and final circle around the golden bed of flowers. Your mind above yourself, your thoughts fogged and unfiltered.

You weren’t sure what it was that drove you forward into the unfamiliar, familiar cavern. But scenes of tip tapping fingers and blips and songs filtered through what little memory you had. You knew this place. You knew it so well you hardly flinched when you stood upon the steps into the ruins, in all its purple glory.

Unfortunately for you, your sanity was still clinging onto the only thing that made sense, and that was magic wasn’t real. And you were most definitely not in a video game.

The only logical explanation was that you were dreaming. Slumbering deep within a coma, probably induced by some horrific accident, and that’s why everything felt real, you were just very, very, very, deep in a coma.

Where you were expecting two beady black eyes you found nothing. You stared for far too long at that patch of grass, the low whistle of wind from overhead sending shivers through your bones.

You rationalized with yourself, of course you didn’t come across a fictional flower character. Even though this place was so familiar to that pixelated world already, it’d be silly. It’d just… be silly.

Right?

Continuing forward you make note alight the fact that it was very easy.

You avoided the poorly swept piles of dust.

If there were no flower, no goat, then it only made sense there were no monsters either. You tried to focus on what exactly you needed in this moment.

“Yes,” You say to yourself in a light tone, your voice unfamiliar to you, and yet the habit of talking to yourself has not faded. You unwrap you face from a cringe and utter a few more words, just to finish this string of thought, “Yes, of course, I need a good old fashioned cup of tea.”

Something to calm the nerves, and your voice, you have decided that it wasn’t so bad despite it being frighteningly unfamiliar.

And so, a cup of tea you shall have.

It really wasn’t that long before you reached the end of the ruins. You made yourself home inside, you couldn’t start a fire, but a blanket would do just fine. You chose the covers from Toriel’s room, a layer of dust making home before it was disturbed. You neatly folded it on the seat of the living room, leaving it for later when you finally have that tea.

There was a cold pie sitting on the counter inside. The chilled tiles somehow colder than the rough concrete of the ruins. It became quickly apparent, with rising panic, there was no heating system at all. There was the hot fridge, yet it was cold.

“No… power...” the creeping panic seized your voice, and you felt a manic laughter burbling deep within.

Your whole body shook violently before you forced your muscles to still, nails digging into skin. You can’t afford to lose it now. There’s work to be done, and besides, you doubt you would’ve gotten your hot tea anyway. The ovens seemed rather old fashioned and required a touch of fire. Something you did not know how to acquire.

You had to find another way to get your tea. Otherwise… Well otherwise you may not even want to imagine otherwise.

With the blanket wrapped around your shoulders and tied in a thick fluffy knot you made your way down. Down, down, down the corridor went, far more spiraling than in the game. Your bare feet getting colder, your breath becoming visible, and chattering teeth a constant.

You touched the door you knew led you to the snow and cold, you took a deep breath and you pushed.

And it was opened before you knew it.

“Wait.” You stopped, looking around. “No snow?”

Oh yeah there were two doors, it was definitely the next one.

It was not the next one.

But it was the next one after that. And as soon as that door opened, you were hit with such a breeze that had you stumbling back and with newfound ferocity you ran as fast as your little bare feet could carry you. And you didn’t stop, not when you stubbed your toe so hard you think you might’ve shattered it, you didn’t stop when you blindly slammed your body into each door, you didn’t stop when you stubbed your same toe again going up the stairs and battering your hip against the table and knocking it to the ground. Only when you were safely huddled, shivering in Toriel’s oversized bed, did you stop.

Your breathing ragged, your leg shaking with pain and regret for acting so mindless.

“Why, why, why, whyyy,” You bemoaned, clutching the fluffy blanket around you, you heard and felt your injured toe catch onto the fabric and you hissed stilling yourself.

You were afraid to look at your foot, so you didn’t. Instead, this bed, warm and soft made the most sense to anything you’ve experienced today. You were tired, and if you closed your eyes you could pretend everything is okay, and you weren’t in the wrong body, and you weren’t in the wrong world, and you weren’t in the aftermath of a… genocide.

“Why do I remember Undertale… but not my own name?” How troubling indeed, but it was really hard to continue to be upset when you finally took a moment to experience the utter soft fluffy texture surrounding you. Life wasn’t so bad when you felt like deluxe wrapped burrito. “Hee hee,” you gladly rubbed your face into the texture.

<><><>

You would never know it, but hidden among the snow sat a little fellow that was known as a Froggit. He hadn’t a name for himself. His nap was just interrupted by the startling rumble of the ruin’s doors opening. Which… shouldn’t happen.

He stood behind this outpost away from the doors, as one of the few who are still alive, it was up to him to man- I’m sorry- frog this part of the woods. Only he preferred to hide away, maybe in hopes he’ll see whatever he was watching for before it sees him.

He dared not look, he huddled shivering, listening waiting to see whoever it was pass by. But seconds turned to minutes, and minutes turned far too many.

The nameless Froggit peeked over around the frozen wood. The Ruin’s door was wide opened. No doubt the traitorous royal scientist has seen it already. But there was no sign of anyone, not even… Froggit approached wearily, no not even any footprints. As if the doors had opened on their own. How strange.

He gulped, it couldn’t have been Blooky, that guy was in charge of the dump. Was there a monster still in the ruins? Stuck? In trouble? Or it could be a trap, maybe that thing figured out how to open the door ruins, and now it was luring him in to… to…!

He carefully made his way down the hallway, he remembered where the queen’s dust lay, or used to. He still avoided where it used to be. Her dust was collected along with all the others, and stored safely away, somewhere everyone agreed was special.

He felt something sticky and wet when he got to the steps. Looking down at his paw, it was covered in a deep red. The little Froggit knew exactly what this was.

“B-b-b-blo-!” Trembling and scrambling back, he turned immediately and ran as fast as his little legs could bounce. He needed to tell the king! The human was in the ruins!

<><><>

If one good thing came of the mass massacre of his people, it was that he wasn’t lonely anymore.

The king had many guests these days, some monsters without family opting to live within his walls. His kingdom now huddled within the cities beyond Hotland of New Home.

He was always so aware of what was troubling his subjects. Before, he could hide away in the garden like the coward he was.

He looked over his list of all the issues, his judge so kindly provided.

Monsters were ‘falling down’ at a climbing rate. If the human didn’t finish them off soon the monsters would be their own downfall.

Monsters were having trouble with producing enough food.

Economy was nonexistent.

There were countless children without family, countless family’s mourning lost children.

Schools were slowly shutting down, monsters feeling there’s not much point.

Hope was the lowest it’s ever been, lower than even when Asriel and Chara left them.

Overpopulation was no longer an issue.

The king has always thought it was important to cling to the silver linings. Not matter how few or small.

Alphys still the royal scientist, despite her betrayal to her people. Asgore wasn’t so much upset at her for making the mistake and more so she would keep such a secret, he needed her. Everyone found they did.

She had become a rising star recently, the upset with her became short lived when she saved so many lives, taking action and recruiting a renewed energy and formulating plans and putting them into action to keep the monster kingdom up and running.

The king knew well enough that still having her employed under him was still a controversial choice despite how much she’s changed for the better. It really was unfortunate such tragedy had to happen to awaken her inner strength.

She was currently going over with him and the judge the data reports. Much of it Asgore wasn’t sure he could follow. But he tried, and as far as he could tell, things were stabilizing. And despite everything, it was showing promise that monsters can come back from this.

“And any sign of the human, doc?” Sans had asked, somehow, the human had vanished right before reaching the last of the monster’s defense. That had been months ago.

“No, even with my droids scanning the entire underground for their determination, nothing. Not even my cameras are picking up anything out of the ordinary.” Alphys shuffled through some documents, pulling out one folder, in particular, Sans was familiar with. “We did come up with this however,”

“Really Al?” Sans huffed annoyed,

“What is this?” Asgore inquired plucking it from the doctor’s little yellow claws,

Sans shook his head and sat back, “It’s nothing,”

“It’s not nothing, we’ve had two signature bursts of it in the last month,” Alphys bitterly bickered back,

Asgore saw this, a graph with colored keys with the representing colors of human soul types. And a black line that juts out twice, one before and one bigger one recently. “And what is it?” He asks again.

“My king, the droids don’t just scan for determination, it scans for other human soul signatures,” Sans huffs but remains silent as Alphys worriedly explains, “Like Sans’ said, it could be nothing and simply picking up interference, but I wanted to bring your attention to it.”

“There is only seven soul traits Alphys, of course it’s interference.” Sans says, placidly.

“So, this black line is supposed to represent another soul signature,” Asgore deflates, contemplating this deeply.

“Or something,” Sans sighs,

“It’s another soul,” Alphys insists, “I am far too confident in my program to pick up anything else, it’s a soul.” She nods in agreement with herself.

“It can’t be a soul! There’s no such thing as a black soul,” Sans argues back, already done with this. They’ve argued about this before, for far too long, and now the king was involved.

“Are you sure it’s black?” Asgore directly asks Alphys bypassing Sans’ concerns.

“Yes, your majesty. But I’m afraid it cannot be pin pointed. But that’s what I’ve been working on since the first signature. If we can find this other human, we can be free.” Alphys explains excitedly clutching her papers.

The king shakes his head. “No, if you do find this black soul, kill it immediately and rid their soul,”

“W-what?” Alphys chokes.

“There is a such thing as a black soul, but it’s only ever been documented once, and it was when I was very small.” The king sits back disturbed settling the papers down on the table. Sans was wrapped with questions, his brow bone furrowed, Alphys looked like the rug was pulled from under her.

“What… What does it mean Asgore?” Sans pushed,

“Death, that was what we were told.” He let this information settle on the two “Monsters never encountered such a thing before. But the humans have, and that’s what they called it.” Asgore thought for a moment, “Alphys, I want you to continue to look for this human, when you find it, I want Sans to go and dispose of it, we cannot afford any more casualties.”

“Y-yes sir,” Alphys reverts back to stuttering, gathering her papers to leave. Filled with troubling thoughts, it was another all-nighter of work. She couldn’t fail her people again. Not again, never again.

“Sans, if you would please stay a moment, I would like to discuss something in private” He poured the skeleton another cup, tiny clinks of his claws pronounced.

“Sure thing, boss.” Sans adopted a casual relaxed stance, but it was obvious his disregard of something so dangerous was much to his chagrin.

Asgore rumbled in satisfaction, as he watched Alphys leave. The poor woman was stressed beyond belief and if the kingdom were able to afford it the king would’ve asked for her to take a break.

Before the king even uttered a sound, the front door was slammed open from the other room, a cry “My king! My king, the human!” A little Froggit scrambled inside the room.

“It’s the Froggit that took over the ruins door sentry.” Sans helpfully supplied his king, the poor thing shivering with distress. It didn’t go unnoticed that its left paw was turning black, tendril like lines weaving up his arm.

“Froggit, your arm!” Asgore had gasped while the Froggit stopped to capture its breath. “What has happened little one, shh, you are safe now.” He bent down to inspect his arm careful about touching it.

“The human! It’s in the ruins! It nearly had me Asgore! It nearly had me!” It wailed, the two were shocked and horrified.

“Sans,” Asgore turned to his judge who simply nodded and vanished. Alphys was back at the door having passed by the distressed monster, curious as well as concerned. Which was perfect, “Alphys, set off the alarm, gather the population in our bunker.” He picked up the trembling Froggit in his arms, the thing looking so tiny and frail compared to the larger. “And then we will get this Froggits arm checked over, are you in any pain little one?”

He shook his head no, but he looked ready to pass out from exhaustion.

“Ri-right away sir,” And she was gone once again.

Asgore prayed that Sans will not fail. The old king couldn’t take much more loss.

<><><>

This has never happened before.

That thought was now common in the mind of the last remaining skeleton. And with each change, he became more and more nervous that everything… everything may be permanent.

Was he going to die for real? Would he never see his brother again? Will monsters never make it to the surface again?

Things haven’t mattered in so long, it was strange now. He supposed he had gotten used to relying on the fact everything would just go back to the way it was. Which was hilarious considering it was something that literally drove him mad.

One step forward and Sans was in front of a gaping ruins door. He has never been here before, at least in this timeline he hasn’t. Still as creepy and dark as he remembered. Never knew how the old croon lived here all on her own. An amazing woman she was, he missed her.

He strode all too casual through the halls. He… never liked taking lives. He only ever took one, but with the time shenanigans, it feels like hundreds. Maybe he is over exaggerating the number a bit, to be fair he didn’t have it in him to keep track past twelve. Or maybe it was eleven?

He avoided the droplets of blood, making his way up the stairs, it looked like someone literally tore down the hall way, everything being knocked over, a vase shattered. He wondered briefly if it was the human running away rather than the froggit.

Lucky for him, it was all too easy to find them. The human. Who was undoubtedly behind this door.

“Toriels room, huh?” Maybe the kid missed its mother. Or maybe not.

He sighed. He wasn’t sure if he was really… ready for this. This human… was it even Frisk? He was sure Frisk was not capable of turning monsters different colors.

He knocked twice, “Knock knock,” He rumbled out leisured.

Now for you, this was quite the shock. Not only did you have a visitor, it was the Sans the skeleton. Which was very odd because in fanfiction, usually you didn’t meet the fellow until you were out of the ruins. Or if the author was feeling particularly malicious, much much later as to build up some sort of suspense.

So yes. You were shocked, he was alive and knocking at your door and also, you had this sneaking paranoia he was here to take your life. You were unsure why you felt this way. Maybe it was the fact the human before you killed near everyone. And if Sans was alive, it was a fail genocide.

The skeleton knocked again, you kept still. How had he found you? The ruins door? He was the sentry, though it shocked you he still felt the need to watch for humans. And he made no such promise to protect you, unlike Frisk. How backwards was that? Protect the genocidal human, (or just not kill them himself) and then kill the one who wants to mind their own business? Die in peace from starvation and infection? Can’t he tell he is not welcome here?

The third knock never came, but instead, he opened the door.

“No nononononono,” instinctively whimpered pitifully. You curled up tighter, “just want a nap please go away.”

The skeleton was taken aback. He never heard Frisk speak, “Kid? S’that you?” He carefully tip toed over, “Look, Frisk, if it is you I’m not gonna kill you. I just...” wanted to know why they haven’t reset yet? And maybe if they were so inclined maybe do that?

You were so tempted to just, uncover and face him, give him a deadly withering glare! If he didn’t back off, if he took one more step…!

Oh god he took another step, and another! You were shaking so badly you wished you could shrink further into yourself. “D-d-do no-! NOT!” You warned. “Come any any any any! CLOSER so help me I WILL-LL-LL maim your butt!” you finished lamely, something told you your stutter was something you acquired in your life before you fell. How frustrating and humiliating.

“Now that, heh heh! Considering I dont have one, you might have a problem,” You can almost hear the mirth in his voice, your face burned in furious humiliation.

“Sm-smarr- smart ass,” You huffled.

“I am only one of those things, and also, language.” He chided in good nature.

“I am an adult! How dare! I can curse if I want to you fool! You!" You search fervorous for an insult ~~that wasn't really and insult because you actually didn't want to hurt his feelings~~ "Fleshless fool! You draw far to close! I will bite you! I will! You watch me!” You were calming down having not been impaled yet, but the thing was, you were still nervous. He was. Right. There. You can almost feel him watching the lump of shivering fabric that was you. And plus there was this growing flutter in your chest, that almost felt like if music was just, circling around your heart and lungs. It wasn’t distressful, rather calming actually, which was frustrating! You cannot afford to relax now you had to get Sans out!!

“What’s your name? Mines Sans, Sans the skeleton,” He wouldn’t try to show it, but he was really nervous! This after all was a very special moment. Maybe if this human calmed down they could realize how special it was too.

“Sans the skeleton.” You deadpanned, as if you couldn’t believe it yourself. You wanted to bite back with an ugly retort. “You are not to take my life this day?”

“Nope, course not.” He tilted his head to the side trying to see under the blanket. “Please come out?” his voice going up an octave as if to put a cherry on top to this request.

It only took a bit of patience but you finally popped your head out of the blanket, your hair everywhere, it’s bleached strands sticking out in odd angles. You flinched when you felt another set of hands tame it, folding the hair behind your ears with such gentle care you couldn’t comprehend.  
You stared wide eyed at the skeleton. Owlish eye sockets with bright intelligent eye lights scanning over you with unexpected warmth. “There you go, see?”

He was surprised you weren’t terrified of his appearance, most likely just annoyed he barged in on this… ‘nap’.

“I am very confused,” You said in earnest. Wondering why you haven’t died yet, and why he was here, and acting so… strangely. “Do I know you?”

He deflated a bit. “Uh, no, we just met.” Maybe they really can’t sense it. That made sense and it’s for the best probably. You tilted your head cutely, in his opinion, still confused. He chuckled and stood back giving you space. He looked to where an alarmingly large and possibly growing stain of red. “That doesn’t look good. I don’t think humans should be leaking that.”

“Not usually no, I have decided to not acknowledge it however.” You pointedly look away from your foot.

“What why?” Sans arched a brow.

“I don’t like it, so I don’t see it.” You affirmed nodding.

Sans wasn’t sure how to take this… this… The acknowledgment in the conscious choice of forced ignorance? Self awareness of unselfawareness? Two very opposite states of mind coexisting at the same time?? In other words, he might as well call it “Immaturity,” he muttered. It would be very funny if he wasn’t so worried.

“Immature? Me? No.” You decidedly object to such an idea.

“Kinda, it’s very child like to just… Ignore issues hoping it will fix itself.” Sans argues back, he motioned his hand towards your foot, asking silently to see it. You slowly obliged still looking away. You heard a sharp intake of breath and you stiffened.

“Is… is it bad?” You squeaked covering your face, you can just imagine.

“Its literally in two, it looks like your toe nail is a total gone-” He stopped when you let out a quivering whine. He took pity on you, his hand on your knee. You did not like this touching thing he was doing but you tolerated it. For now. “look,” he started, “just, sit tight alright? I’m sure with a bit of food and magic it’ll pull itself together. The bone is fine, its just the nail that… Right, well.” He got up off the floor and was about to make his way out.

“Why are you helping me?” You asked, suspicious.

“Uuh,” He looked as if that was a stupid question. “Oh, right, well you see...” he looked a little annoyed with himself more than you, not that you could tell that “because I can,” and then he up and vanished.

Unspoken protests upon your lips you glowered at his disappearing act, highest of key annoyed and grumpy. Well it was an improvement from how you were feeling before. Annoyed, confused and aware was much better than confused, lost, afraid and deep within a dream like funk.

When he blipped back he had sweat lining his forehead and a small handful of monster candy. “Eat up butter cup, you’ll need the energy.” He looked wearily over at the gaping door to close it with his magic.

You stiffened having the candy already in your mouth. Why was he closing the door? You were suddenly very aware of how alone you were with a strange man. With a blep sound you spit out the candy and glowered suspiciously at him, sizing him up. He was a lot bigger in person. Standing a head taller than yourself. You hated this, it was a disadvantage, plus he had magic.

“Hey you have to eat if your going to get better, its not poisoned,” He reasoned when he noticed your look. “what, why are you looking at me like that? We really don’t have much time, the sooner you get your foot healed the sooner I can get you someplace safe.”

“I’m in danger?” Your voice wobbled. Sans shuffled impatiently, usually he would give you enough time but Alphys was literally on her way with a small army of droids. And he wasn’t sure he could convince his friend not to kill this human. And usually he would have no problem explaining bluntly of how much shit this human was in, but the fact of the matter was, they seemed far too panicked already. He couldn’t afford them to freak out now. They just needed to listen.

“Please just eat, I’ll explain when we are some place safer.” He stepped closer to you, and you leaned back defiantly.

“No, I think I’ve decided,” You shuffle to the side, closer to the door about to bolt “I’m alright, I got to go anyway, I’m rather late to a meeting you see-” you hear something buzzing, far away. Beeping and distinctly scanning noises.

“ **enough**.”

Felt his hand on the front of your shirt, pushing you back into the wall and against the bedding. Your legs up in the air trying not to snag on your injured foot. Problem was, you felt his pelvis against yours, and his hands prying your jaw open.

“ **open** ,”

You complied, dazed by the close proximity, you felt his ribs, heavy against you and a candy pushed into your mouth. Sweet and easily dissolved.

You swallowed thickly, looking at him in the eye, he seemed pleased eyeing you up, unnecessarily brushing your bottom lip with his thumb. It was like he was in a trance, his hot breath cooling your reddened face.

“Sans!” You both jolted, he stood up quickly his fuzzy eyelights coming into narrowed focused. You however clumsily fell on the floor, your foot healed, yet you couldn't magically inject grace it seemed.

It was Alphys, the scientist, she looked like a raging storm of anger and betrayal. And maybe a lottle taller than you imagined. She hissed, her tail scaling the floor back and forth, floating droids beeping erratically and circling you.

She hissed, “Sans, what are you doing!? The k-k-king didn’t order you to-! to-! Fuck a human! He said to kill it!” her tone going manic.

“Kill!?” You yelped, scrambling up only to zapped with a bolt of electricity, you heavily hit the ground and convulsed. It was more awkward than painful, but still, ow.

“Stay down if you know whats good for you,” You never knew this anxious yellow lizard could sound so threatening, but you did as you were told. For now. You were looking for an escape route. Fast. You were faster in realizing you are very bad in making split decisions in tough situations.

“Alphys, stop!” Sans looked genuinely panicked, eyes wide he went to be by your side only for the floor to explode in front of him. He stumbled back rattling in anger and resentment. “Stop this! Now Alphys, let me expl-”

“No!” Alphys cut him off her claw still sizzling with electric energy. “I’m sick of you getting in the way of my work, my work is for my people, my king.” She came closer to him towering over his prone form, her reptilian eyes sharp. “You’ve gotten in the way of my work one too many times. Let me guess, you were going to hide this human? Protect it?”

“You don’t understand Alphys, they’re my-! Woah hey!” her grip on his jacket vice, she slammed him into the wall. Despite being similar heights she was able to frighteningly maneuver him with far too much ease.

“You were weren’t you?” She snarled and shook him before letting him go, he crumpled to the floor. You saw this, your eyes met his briefly, hopeless, there was an understanding between you two and something snapped within you, shocking you still. “You were supposed to protect us Sans! I wasn’t sure before, but now I am. You’re hiding that human arent you? That demon that took away Undyne, that took away your brother, I shouldve known the moment you tried to derail my search for this one.” She took something curved and metallic.

“What!? No!” Sans struggled to get up too backed up against the wall. His eyelight vanished seeing this little gadget. “You wouldn’t.”

“Maybe not to a friend,” She uttered before pressing a button. Burbles of tears coming down her cheeks, not that you were able to see. The gadget took shape of a metallic liquid maw, lunging at the neck of Sans. He jolted and gurgled for a few seconds kicking at the air his magic angrily bursting before sizzling into nothing. He lay still, merely twitching now.

“You’ve killed him!” You screamed horrified, you crawled forward, only to be shocked again. On the ground you can see Alphys looking at you silently impassive, only then did you notice the thin barrier circling you held up by the four floating droids.

“He’s not dead,” She kindly explained, “it’ll just take some time for his body to get used to the lack of magic.” She showed you another similar device walking up to you, “we used these on prisoners, to make sure they didn’t harm themselves or their keepers.” She put the device back in her lab coat.

“He- Sans is a prisoner?” You supposed that’s better than being dead.

She ignored your question, it was obvious after all. “Do you want to live?”

You took a moment to consider this seriously, “Do I?” you asked yourself.

Alphys gave you a strange look, you've answered with such honesty it was hard not to take your genuine question to heart “Do you... not…?” Well damn, if the human didn’t want to live, these next few days will be rather difficult. She needed some motivation… “Do you want Sans to live?” gestured to Sans who was beginning to stir.

Now you were giving her a strange look, “is that a threat on your friends life?”

“He’s not my friend, and I’m a monster, I wouldn’t mind killing him if I had too.” She lied, she was a very convincing liar though. If you were a human from this world, with the knowledge and life experience of any one else other than you, you may be inclined to believe her farce. “But maybe, I’ll consider sparing him if you work for me...”

“That’s def-def-definitely a load of-of-of-of bull shit,” You snickered, even harder at her baffled look. “But I’ll help you!” You brightened. You loved helping more than anything! Somehow you knew this was how you always were.

And somehow, looking at her reforming face of several conflicting emotions and Sans slowly getting up only to lay down again groaning almost comically, you really think things will be okay. This was all just a misunderstanding. And plus, you liked helping people. Gave you purpose.

But also, maybe if you help her you can convince her to let you go and mind your business. You really could go for a cup of tea. That’s all you wanted, was that too much to ask? You really truly didn’t want much from life, please god, just a cup of tea. Just a cup. Singular. Cup.

The shining hope in your eyes have taken the trembling scientist aback. In all honesty, she really had nothing against this human in particular, but maybe seeing it did spark a few unsavory memories of when she last failed to save monsters. When she failed to deem the human as a threat and let them go along on their journey, hoping maybe the human wouldn’t turn out so bad like in her animes. She really did like humans, then, not now. Now it was just another fuck up on her part in waiting, someone else could die. It could’ve been Sans just moments ago, it could’ve been that Froggit if he hadn’t gotten away.

She wasn’t the Alphys who coward behind a screen hoping things will turn around by itself anymore, she was a better Alphys, one that wont fuck up this time. And if she couldn’t solidly contain this human and trust that it’ll keep in check under her surveillance, well, a dead human is better than an alive one.

She stood up from her kneeled position and backed away from the electric field. She felt the humans gaze on her curious, unwavering, alive. She didn’t want to think about how numb her fingers were as she typed in the commands. She wondered, if she wasn’t the one directly doing the killing, will she still gain EXP?

“Alph, ugh,” She didn’t spare Sans a glance, but she heard him shuffling and getting up. He had enough sense to stay on the ground, “You’re not killing them?” the hope in his voice angered her as well as broke her heart. How could he still have faith? Certainly, he was a faulty judge. Perhaps the death of his remaining family really did a number on him too many.

“I’m doing what I have to,” She said this more to her hovering thumb than to him. She was having difficulty just… pressing down.

Sensing this hesitancy Sans stood up quickly, his head spinning his knees weak, his neck heavy. “Don’t do it Al,” his hand on her shoulder, she roughly shrugged him off and glared at him, she felt betrayed, she felt conflicted.

“Don’t make me cuff you too Sans, stay back,” She warned, “it’s for the best,” She reasoned with herself. “you should step out,”

“I can’t let you do this Al,” Sans protested,

“Have you forgotten what position you’re in? You’re a traitor to your people Sans,” He flinched at her words, “You are under arrest, you have no say in the matter any longer, it’s obvious you’re not fit to be judge.”

“Al please, they’re my sou-”

Instead of speaking, instead of arguing, she turned around and maneuvered him all too easy out the door and into another room. She pushed him on the bed and shut the door. Knowing all too well the skeleton wouldn’t, shouldn’t even have enough strength to stand. Not for a long time at least. She could hear his shouts, it just angered the storm inside further, the lengths he was willing to go for a human, instead of his own people. His friends, his brother.

She blocked it all out, and instead of entering the room again she stood just outside. She found it was a lot easier to press the button.


	2. In which you are very dead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> But you still want tea

In which you are incredibly, undeniably, dead. You mourned not for the loss of your life, but for the loss opportunity to sit by a fire, read a book, snuggle underneath a blanket with a soothing cup of tea to clear your sinuses as well as troubled thoughts.

  
  


You don’t think you would actually read the book, much less actually drink the tea. It was the aesthetic and not the function that mattered. You would be more inclined to scroll through your phone on readdit, r/wholesome or r/thingsthatmademesmile. You could always go for a good puppy picture or a mini video of a baby laughing its head off at something absurdly mundane or simple. Personally, you aspired find joy in grand quantities from the simple and mundane, like a baby.

  
  


Supposedly now, that you are in fact dead, aware that you are dead, and stuck in a jar at that, you wont be having your simple dream come true. For the briefest of moments you were alive you didn’t get much time to chase your dreams. Maybe in a way, landing in a fictional world is a dream come true to some you imagine, it wasn’t for you. You much preferred the fictional remain fictional.

Meeting the sans the skeleton undertale felt more like a meme come true than a dream come true. And now that you had your wits about you you realize how deranged you were acting. Hiding under a blanket like a toddler. Begging him to leave and then… the candy incident. The mere thought of his phalanges on you had your metaphorical blood broiling. You supposed you understood his urgency in hindsight, now that you were sitting in a jar because of your actions. But then that look, that… brush of the lips… That look in his eye...

Oh! How angry it made you! What sort just goes and… does that??

  
  


It hardly mattered now, he was in jail. Probably being questioned. Probably bored. You would chuckle darkly if you could at his expense.

  
  


Any and all information you got from the outside world was directly from the one who took your life. You didn’t get much from her most days as she mosied. Just needles, tip tapping of computers, erratic mutters, and the occasional emotional break down if a break through was not had instead. Apparently, she was trying to study your soul, gather samples to cure someone.

  
  


A froggit, you think you got a glimpse of him a few times, and if you were honest, which you always were, he looked like a froddo to you.

The little monster had his arm blackened up to his shoulder. Somehow, this was your fault. You would disagree, but the monsters that come in don’t seem to care for your input. Not that they can hear you, but still you feel miffed for being ignored.

  
  


What else were you to do, other than float and endure this bleak tiny lab. It wasn’t the one from the game. If anything it looked like a small classroom. White walls, sterile tiles mimicking marble, metal LED embedded electric door and a few tables littered with all sorts of papers, gadgets and computers.

  
  


You weren’t sure what to make of it when Asgore came in. Sure, you were provided with some hefty information on your fate. Like how once Alphys is done with you, you will be properly disposed of. Like the sort of mysterious needle you find in the 7-Even bathroom. You don’t want to touch it, and you don’t just want to trash is either. Maybe they will incinerate you.

  
  


So you wondered briefly, if there was an after after death. Were you really dead if you were still here? Didn’t feel like it. This was just another state of being alive. No body, no voice. You can still feel, think and rationalize(for the most part). Which was something you didn’t care to think too deeply on, keeping your sanity intact was a must.

  
  


It wasn’t until one morning, or what you assumed was morning when a very groggy science lizard trudged in with a mug of steaming tea did you feel the need to move. And you knew this was tea and not coffee because she actually settled it down next to you as she typed away at whatever it was on her computer. If you leaned in, you think you can make out what looks like an email.

  
  


Never have you related so much to a lizards daily routine. You felt a kinship, a deep and meaningful bond, because you also partake in the checking of emails first thing before work every morning. Just the domestication of the whole situation had your spirits soaring. Not literally.

  
  


You also wanted tea, and by the looks of it, she will also not drink the tea. She sipped at it only twice.

  
  


Genuine panic began to race through you, for you realized, this perfectly good tea was going to go to waste! She wasn’t even holding it to enjoy its warmth. This, will need to be remedied. Why, oh why did you have to be stuck?! It didn’t seem fair at all that she had two perfectly good hands and she wasn’t even going to hold a perfectly good cup of tea. Does she not realize the sacred ritual she is passing up?

  
  


If only you had your own hands… If only… You reached, and reached, until there was a little pop. And just like that, you wiggled your rounded little...paw? It looked like a cartoonish kitten paw if it was able to grapple things. Which was exactly what you needed.

  
  


A few more tiny little pops and you, now just an egg shaped buffoon with arms and legs, glowing a soft black light, you had no idea how your inky blackened body and illuminate but here you were!

Your tiny feet touch the ground, perfect, you hopped a bit testing your newfound weight. Yes, perfect, wonderful, now while the tea was still steaming…

  
  


* Tink *

hmmm

* tink tink tink *

Oh yes of course, there was still the jar. You hit the jar a couple more times as if it would give in to your will. Of course it didn’t but you did garner the attention of a certain someone, who was watching you the whole time.

  
  


Alphys was… horrified. She blankly stared at the… legged egg, the human soul turned monster? No. That can’t be it. She watched it as it scratched the wall of her soul container. It was not a jar, it was specifically made to keep souls from disappearing, to even suggest it was a jar she would’ve found that rude and completely disregarding how much work went into designing and building it.

  
  


It looked like it was trying to get to her computer. The science lizard brain was telling her to lift the container, see what happens. The other half of her brain… wait that still is the lizard part. Right, so she lifted the lid, giving the ‘egg’ access to the open world. She held her breath.

  
  


See? You knew if you just kept hitting the wall of the jar, it’d eventually disappear. Perseverance wins! And just in time before the tea was sapped from all its glorious warmth!

  
  


You waddled, heavily side to side, your new body being… Well not ideal in the slightest. But eventually, it did its job. It was almost instinctual how your body began to form once again, only more fluidly as it literally seemed to melt and coil around Alphys mug. The warmth was dwindling unfortunately. You took what you could get.

  
  


The scientist felt the strange urge to ‘awe’, watching you hug the mug, strangely, a black flame like appearance took its shape around you. She reached tenderly to touch it finding you were cold, like a ghost. She prodded you some more, not that you minded, finding you actually did have some substance to you. Like a soft, malleable goo if it were sand and stuck together like magnets. She went to take her hand back only to find two little paws wrapped around her claw. She tugged a bit, she wasn’t stuck and she strangely felt more endeared than frightened.

  
  


It was a major relief to find that, this little thing didn’t seem to be some sort of parasite(So far) that wanted to hack her computer and destroy her lab like she had expected. Instead it was just seeking warmth. She pushed back the thought that she was stupid to even test this out, opening that jar could’ve been the death of her.

  
  


Not wanting to let go of the cup you eventually unwrapped yourself from your hug. Alphys was surprisingly warm as well. But you didn’t want to be a bother so it was the cup. Which was lukewarm at best at this point.

  
  


Alphys wasn’t done with you yet. She needed to know exactly what was going on with you. Were you still conscious? It looked like it, almost like an infant how you were drawn to warmth and how you clung to her finger. Did you remember anything from before? She doubted that, if that were the case she wouldn’t think you’d be so keen on being near someone who took your life. (How wrong she was, you didn’t mind at all that Alphys took your life because in reality she didn’t much take anything at all. You were still here after all.)

  
  


It really tested her judgment about you, about humans in general. Were you human at all anymore? This wasn’t normal human soul behavior. But maybe it was normal for DEATH. Was it like a phoenix? Will it come back as human? Was this technically still a human? Was this an entirely new creature?

  
  


Asgores words echoed through her head, grimly she thought about disposing you. She wasn’t naive to the possible dangers of keeping you around, and even now, with so many unknowns there were so many risks. She didn’t gain any exp from killing you, and maybe that was because she didn’t actually kill you. Can you kill death? Why had the humans up and chose a name as ominous like that if it wasn’t for a reason?  
  
  


You squeaked in protest when she lifted the mug. Your little body drooped from your desperate clinging. Holding a hand under you and with a little shake you plopped onto her palm. So small, she could feel you wrapping around her hand and sighing, as if in relief. “Are you cold?” She asked you, not expecting the tiny bobble which she dared to assume was a yes?

  
  


Alphys turned her hand every which way, you clung and angrily squeaked at her for disrupting your peace. She strangely felt at ease around you, like a little living stress ball, she played around with you which you quickly caught on to the game. She noted your intelligence and ability to grasp ideas.

  
  


You were alive, she can’t take your life again. It’s not like you were human, so it didn’t matter if she kept you around did it? She would just hide you in her pocket whenever the king came by, and she would say ‘Don’t worry your majesty! I took care of it!’. Which wasn’t lying at all!

  
  


For all she knew, she would literally be killing a baby. That would be far to far.

  
  


Evenings passed by quicker now that Alphys became a source of entertainment and companionship. She would softly talk to you and you would squeak back. Too lazy to form words or even less, tangible opinions. Far too chill with finally having tea to warm you up whenever it was available, and loads of fanfiction made by Alphys herself. It was literal heaven for you. She didn’t think you could read, well, no matter so long as you were entertained.

  
  


Alphys even gave you a name, which first, thank goodness you don’t like not having one and it’d feel so awkward to give yourself one. And second, maybe it wasn’t the best name, but ‘Kissy Cutie’, was still a name. Despite her changes in demeanor, she was still Alphys. You may have not technically knew her before you officially met, but it was well enough to know she’d die before she got over fan girling over whatever anime there was available. Though now, it seemed a lot of her anime and manga was hidden away and anything bright and vibrant had been stored away. Her home was gray and cold. And whenever there was guests she began hiding you in her personal room. Which was small and cluttered, but comfortable.

  
  


She would leave you to nap on her bed while she was away away too, you never once wondered where she went off too, only that you missed her dearly. You hated you felt that way, felt so needy. But then again, the face she makes when she comes home to see you cheering for her arrival… Well, you liked that.

  
  


That Froggit from before was a regular. Regular enough to recognize his voice through the walls. Every time he would visit Alphys would become down trodden. You would listen closely to her troubles, apparently, the froggit had turned completely shadowy. And even though there wasn’t any apparent negative affects they still wanted to rid of it. Froggit claims he has been having strange dreams, but dreams don’t correlate with reality so Alphys was quick to dismiss it after politely listening.

  
  


You had to disagree with her on this, dreams were very important. They were the subconscious speaking in riddles, and sometimes you may know more than you realize so you best listen for clues.

  
  


You purse your metaphorical lips in contemplation. You sat on top of Alphys stomach as she read her phone. It was ‘night’ and time to sleep. But something was obviously still troubling her. And this was troubling you as well.

  
  


The glowing of the phone kept you awake, you found with time you were eventually able to actually sleep and dream. Your body had formed itself into a miniature cat shape. You were hardly six inches tall you would say. But you think after hearing how Alphys always wanted a cat you may have subconsciously changed to appease her. Did that make you a people-pleaser?

  
  


Her blankets were entirely puffy, made it a little difficult to reach Alphys face, but eventually your butt made home in front of her phone screen and you lay stretched over her snout. ‘meow’ you had said, in your head.

  
  


You felt her snort under you, her snout moving up causing you to slide off only to feel her head lay on you again, squashing you. You squeaked in protest, but in the end you just snuggled deep underneath her head. This way, the light wouldn’t be a bother.

  
  


“Pft,” You felt her dully rounded claws gently scratch the base of your new found bob tail. You tolerated it. You’d never admit it was nice. “I don’t know what to do with you kissy cutie...” She sighed fondly. There was a layer of serious contemplation behind that, suggesting she really didn’t know what to do with you.

  
  


But why? Was this not good enough? This life? Why wasn’t she just happy? You couldn’t understand. Well, maybe you could, but that’s sort of revelation takes work. Brain work. And gosh knows you’ve tried to acquire reasoning skills, it was like a whole pool of wealth and knowledge right under you. You try to drink but its frozen over.

  
  


“Sans,” Alphys started, her voice vibrating through you, “I talked to Sans this evening. He said you were his... soul mate. If you are still you...” She dropped her phone and curled around you, now holding you to her chest. You can almost feel her soul cry with regret and guilt. “If only I had listened for another second. Because of me, now he is a prisoner and being questioned for something he didn’t do.” She sniffled grossly, snot clogging her snout “I shouldn’t have been so quick to judge, he was my friend, now I don’t think he’ll ever forgive me for murdering his soulmate.” She hunched further “Of course he couldn’t, I don’t blame him. I really messed up again, why do I keep messing up?”

  
  


You purred soothingly, something you’ve learned to do on your free time. Which was all the time. You didn’t want her to feel too bad about this. So instinctively you did something, you’re not sure what but it was something you’ve done before with Alphys whenever she got this way. You clung to that feeling of guilt and shame and returned it with how you really felt. Unconditional love and soft forgiveness. You think she felt your intent as she relaxed again.

  
  


Wiping her eye, she smiled shakily, “thanks kissy,” you yawned and snuggled up. If you could suggest to go the fuck to sleep you would. “I hear you,” she giggled and shut off her phone. Finally, finally resting her eyes and petting you, more to soothe herself than you. You didn’t mind at all. You liked to help after all.

  
  


It was the next morning did you realize something was very different. And it wasn’t the fact that the scientist opened her room door to let you roam the lab. Which was great! Because here you can start making comparisons to the video game and what’s actually in her lab. She paid you no mind as she got to work. She hadn’t had your attention on her either as you sat placidly on her desk establishing dominance over a kissy cutie figurine. You felt your spine curl.

  
  


“Yes, yes, in _private_. I don’t need anyone looking after me, he isn’t a dangerous criminal for angels sake,” Alphys quietly but rather sternly spoke to whoever it was on the other side. You listened to her stuff her bag hurriedly and a zipper being roughly pulled shut.

  
  


Was she leaving you again? But with all this space? You didn’t necessarily need much to be content but you weren’t complaining having the chance to explore unsupervised.

  
  


You watched her come near the desk where you were at and quickly jumped off and scampered away. “Wh-wait!” Alphys trudged behind you, “No- no not you Galahad, I… I have to go.” With a beep she continued to pursue you. “Kissy come here!” She stopped, stomping and pointed at the ground.

  
  


You snickered at her, which not only shocked her that you can vocalize more than a dog toy but it invigorated her. She dropped her bag on the cold tile. “No playing around Kissy! We need to go now!” It was only business with her all the time. You jumped up on the stack of papers next to the book shelf. Papers flew, books fell, and maybe you discovered her super secret adult fun time stash. You didn’t have time to notice that the most worn was a dvd disc set with a fishy green woman on the cover.

  
  


“I really shouldn’t have locked you up for so long,” she mourned. It was true, maybe she shouldn’t have. You were whirring with energy. Energy you normally didn’t care to act on, but now being chased was… So much fun!

  
  


You ran around the lab a few times, Alphys eventually giving up around the fifth mad dash around the room, merely picking up the mess you left behind. “Maybe I should invest in a cat leash. Kissy might be too small.”

  
  


If you ever found yourself on a leash, you would make sure Alphys suffered for her transgressions. You weren’t actually a cat after all. Well, to be fair, you weren’t much of anything. And neither of you knew what you were. You were Kissy Cutie, the cat shaped death soul thing.

  
You were now running in circles around Alphys, leaping back every time she went to grab you. You heard her give a tired sigh and waited for you to finally, finally tire out and pick you up by the scruff.

  
  


“Maybe I should’ve named you trouble.” She briefly wondered if you remembered your real name. Alphys would’ve asked if you exhibited any sort of capability of communication and understanding of language. It just seems you couldn’t, and you were more than okay with her thinking that. Maybe you even believed it too.

  
  


She put you into her small breast pocket like she used to. It was becoming a tight fit, but you happily snuggled deep within. You can almost hear Alphys churning thoughts and feelings through her soul. Not that you felt particularly invasive.

  
  


“Alright Kissy,” She lifted her bag, “Only ten minutes late, but that’s alright. It’s not like Sans is going anywhere, hey! Keep your head down, we can’t have you being seen.” You didn’t wanna go see him though.

  
  


Her finger pressed your head down. Might as well get comfy. You haven’t been outside of this lab for… Well you had no idea how long for. Weeks? A month? Time flies when you have no life at all.

  
  


You trembled slightly, here you were just getting used to a daily routine, and now it was all changing so quickly. You just hoped Alphys would bring you right back and you both can continue living peacefully. You ignored the fact that Alphys life was nothing but anxiety and crippling work and stress.

  
  


Heat, your one of possibly many weaknesses. Sapped every ounce of energy you had. Relaxing, sooo relaxing. You felt your body become muddled as you literally melted. Drifting off to sleep.

  
  


Air conditioned vents hummed over head. Quick tapping of claws on stone. You jostled awake when Alphys anxiety began to rise. With the touch of cold and the exchange of conversation you roused from your hiding spot. You saw a… what was it called. Whimsum? The upgraded kind, oh wait two of them. They hovered next to either side of the scientist. They didn’t seem to notice you as you all trekked further downwards into the dark corridor.

  
  


“You two don’t think it’s a little excessive to keep Sans all the way down here?” Alphys asked, and it seems it wasn’t the first time either. There were so many empty prison cells, hardly used even before the genocide. She supposed the architect just went a little crazy with the digging. Moleshold monsters tend to have a hard time with ending projects that require using their shovel like hands. They just never stop.

  
  


The whimsum on the right sighed exasperated. “Doctor Sans Serif is a level one threat, Doctor Alphys. He knows where the human is, do you think otherwise now?” There was truth to this statement, but in reality the guardsmen really were itching to use this high tech cell for ages. Plus it was very well cushioned. Like a normal room.

  
  


“Well, you would think he would fess up by now is all I’m saying.” Alphys reasoned mostly with herself.

  
  


“With all due respect Doctor Alphys, I do not think so. Doctor Sans Serif has developed a deep depression since he’s been here. He hasn’t said a word to anyone else but you, Doctor Alphys.” Galahad actually seemed a little worried for his fellow monster. You couldn’t blame him, this situation seemed a bit too bleak. Why was he locked away again? You can’t remember, you barely remembered how you died but you think is might have something to do with how things ended up.

  
  


Feeling far too overwhelmed you hid back into your respective pocket. Why did you have to come along?

  
  


“We are here Doctor,” The two stood tall and vigilant on either side of a metal slide door. Its red LED lights embedded into the metal pulsed softly showing it was occupied. She can see through the window there was Sans sitting there on his cushioned bed. His eyes dead and staring down at his feet. She knew even if he looked up, all he would see would be his reflection.

  
  


“Please activate the shaders, this will be a private conversation.” She entered, satisfied hearing Galahad pressing the button, windows in turning shades darker until they couldn’t see inside at all.

  
  


The two soldiers hovered at the exit. Working here as a guard was very similar to working as a guard for the queen in the ruins.

  
  


“Why do you think Doctor Alphys wanted it so private?” Valider had asked, he was one of the newly evolved guards. His voice soft with nativity. It was hard for Galahad to get too peeved at him for speaking during work.

  
  


Galahad took a moment to consider, “it isn’t our business as guardsmen under the royal scientist, but I believe it’s because they are still friends.”

  
  


“Maybe she can get something out of him then, I really hope so, or better yet it was all just a big misunderstanding.” The younger hopefully uttered, a smile shown under his helmet.

  
  


“That would be ideal, but that’s unfortunately not the reality of things. And if it’s too good to be true, it’s just simply not true.” Galahad sighed, and straightening, signaling the end of the conversation.

  
  


Valider quickly got the message and said no more, but his thoughts were buzzing with hope and worry.

  
  


  
  


In the city of new home, monsters of all sorts gathered once again for their daily meal. It was usually a time of comradery and news on the slow progression of monsters.

  
  


Teachers slowly coming around to teaching again, medical doctors taking this chance to check up on the sick and injured, and neighbors getting to know each other better, and make sure all was as well as it could be.

  
  


Shadowed Froggit made his way as he usually did down the street. Getting behind one of several lines for food. He wasn’t just searching for food, but he was searching for his friend Whimsum. He and the fluttery mess of anxiety and kindness have been drawing a close kinship with one another. Being one of the only survivors of the ruins, it was the sort of familiarity he craved.

  
  


One of the first things he has noticed since leaving the ruins was how friendly everyone was. Not to say the monsters in the ruins weren’t friendly, it was just usually everyone tended to mind their business in the ruins. No one ever asked him how he was, or what he was up to, it was really a nice change of pace him and Whimsum clung to and adopted into their own behavior.

  
  


He stretched his neck out, his eyes roving over the many unique bodies down the crowded street. He thought he saw a flutter dive behind a trash filled alleyway. He couldn’t be sure if that was his whimsum, he would need to check.

Only dilemma was he just got in line and he felt others behind him already. He ignored them keeping a distance, he understood their wariness and didn’t take it to heart. As soon as Alphys figured out a cure people wouldn’t actively avoid him anymore.

  
  


He groaned, he was so close to the food and he really wanted to see his friend. To the annoyance of every monster nearby he hopped in place impatiently, having ‘food, food, foof, doof, food, food,’ as a mantra under his breath and in his mind.

  
  


It wasn’t until he grabbed two bundles of Sandwiches and berries from the kindly cyclops did he bolt like a train towards where he hoped his friend was.

  
  


“Whimsum! Whimsum!” He called darting into the alleyway, hopping over a few trash bags, it looked a lot dirtier from the outside. There he was, talking to a familiar washua. A recent friend to their two monster group.

  
  


He skidded to a halt, in front of them, panting and smiling frazzled. He deflated a bit when he realized “Oh I should’ve grabbed a third, I’m sorry Washua I was in such a rush. Here, you can have mine I’ll just grab another...” he nudged the white cloths forward.

  
  


The two looked at him for a moment, washua curiously giving whimsum a meaningfully stern look with a nod. “What’s the matter with you two? Was it something I said?” Froggit tilts his head to one side.

Whimsum wrung his hands uncertainly, “Th-that’s alright froggit, we’ve eaten already,”

  
  


“What? Without me?” Froggit croaked sullenly, well at least he’d have double the meal. He felt bad about it, not that monsters were struggling with food anymore but still.

  
  


“Tell him Whimsum, it needs to be done.” Washua hissed at his friend, it looked like Whimsum had guilt glued to his features, which was a subtle difference to his usual nervous look he would wear.

  
  


“Tell me what? What’s wrong, washua why wont you talk to me?” Shadow froggit nearly snapped, if washua wanted to tell him something, why not directly say it rather than put their poor friend on the spot. Washua infuriatingly ignored him, rather pointedly actually.

  
  


“Froggit,” Whimsum came a touch closer, it was only then did Froggit realize his two friends were actively keeping a distance. “I think- I think it’s best we don’t hang out for awhile,”

  
  


His metaphorical stomach dropped. “What? Why? I don’t understand,” he swallowed the air thickly.

  
  


“I’m sorry froggit, it’s just for the best! Until Alphys cures you- cures you.” Whimsum quickly explained, “It really isn’t personal, we are still friend-”

  
  


“Oh stop it whimsum,” Washua snapped, “you don’t need to lie to him,”

  
  


“I’m not!” Whimsum defended, his fluttering becoming erratic.

  
  


The Washua finally looked at him in the eye, “You’ve been forcing Whimsum to hang out with you, don’t think I can’t tell! You have that human in you! You could be contagious, so stay away!”

  
  


Froggit took a step back aghast, only to take three more forward, whimsum squeaking and zooming behind washua, he ignored how much that hurt his feelings. “I’m not like that! At all! You’re making things up!”

  
  


“Get back you freak! That demon marked you, you might infect us all!” Snarled washua who had no trouble jet spraying the shadowed Froggit. He whimpered shielding his face with a paw.

  
  


He shook the water away, “Doctor Alphys said there was nothing wrong with me!” He wavered, flinching when Woshua prepared another spray.

  
  


Whimsum behind the woshua trembled, but peeked out from behind his new friend. “Froggit, I’m sorry but maybe it’s for the best you stay away for now until the doctor cures you!” He hid back, it seems he wasn’t the only one thinking along the same lines.

  
  


The froggit stepped back, a line of other monsters who heard the commotion, some familiar some not, all glared or looked on fearfully, expectantly. This was it. Was he really officially being outcast? Even by those he thought were his friends. He clenched his eyes shut. He really thought! He really thought he had friends!

  
  


Froggit didn’t want to look at them anymore. He grabbed his bundle of sandwiches and berries and bounded away. Far away, where he wouldn’t bother anyone ever again.

  
  


Froggit looked into the lonely pond of waterfall. There were a lot of ponds in waterfall, but this was _the_ pond. It used to glow a vibrant cyan color, now it was just dark and perfectly reflective and still. Like a mirror. It was still just as beautiful, as the glow rocks above still held its light. It made the room look a lot bigger than it was, and it’s what the froggit imagined space looked like.

  
  


Being a small simple frog, he never thought of space or the great beyond so much before. But ever since his body become shadowed and everyone began to distance themselves from him, he’s had plenty time to think. Plenty time to cry too. He never felt all that lonely before the lack of friends never a bother. But now no one would come near him. They were afraid of him.

  
  


“What is wrong with me,” He croaked at his reflection. His body blending in perfectly with the darkened ceiling, all he saw was the two white beady eyes staring back at him.   
  
  


He heard the plips and plops from under, the reflection disturbed as well as he was.

  
  


“I just wish,” he said looking down at his paw, “I just wish I could be different, I wish I could change,” wiping away the tears he felt something rise from deep within.

  
  


It all happened all too quickly, when the glow of pure unfiltered light spawned at his chest slowly creeping and gaining speed until his whole body became fixture of blinding light. It wasn’t painful, it wasn’t strange, it was maybe just a bit dizzying and ticklish.

  
  


And then it was over. He hadn’t realized he was floating until he hit the ground and faltered. His legs too long, to big, his arms more meaty and his… tail?? He looked behind himself, having a neck now, and wiggled his tail. It was a round heavy ball with teeth and a face.

  
  


He had changed, and the only good thing about it was he had his colors were back. And maybe the fact he was now 5 feet taller than before.

  
  


So instead of a one foot tall cute froggit, he was now six feet, muscled, and very not cute. He looked into his reflection baffled and frightened. Not sure what to make of it. Not sure what to make of anything anymore.

  
  


Like a finger caressing the lip of a wine glass, a heavenly harmony of sound rang all around and bounced against the tiny room of rock and crystals. A child, slumped against a dip in the ground, you’d think they were dead if it weren’t for the lazy but nice and precise imaginary lines they were drawing with a shiny dull blade.

  
  


You’d think they’ve been sitting there for a very long time. And you would be right, but maybe a little off from what you could imagine. Their face was thoughtful, their eyes a sliver it looked nearly shut. They had ruffled hair and tired clothing ready to finally be thrown away, no amounts of washing can bring it back to the life and color it used to harbor.

  
  


It was all just a depressing sight, a child feeling sorry for themselves, and if you asked why they were sitting their and not off doing child things like scuffing their knees and chasing fantasies they’d tell you they were in ‘time out’.

  
  


They never had anyone ever put them in ‘time out’ before. No one to do it, no one to say ‘you’ve been very naughty, it’s time to go to your room and think about what you’ve done’. They also never had a room before, at least not one of their own.

  
  


This child was named Frisk, and no, they are not possessed by a demon. They never were, that was just something they made up to distance themselves from their wrong doings. ‘wrong doings’ was putting it incredibly lightly.

  
  


They were always themselves. Just angry maybe, at the fact they had no body at all. No one to tell them it’s time to come home, or notice them or straighten out their coat before they went out to play in the cold. And absolutely no one to give them a ‘time out’. That’s what was really upsetting to Frisk. It’s a very lonely world when no one sees you, not even when you go and act out in unforgivable ways. No, now Frisk was just a horrible child no one wants instead of just a child no one wants.

  
  


They trembled, upset and cold, they don’t know how long is long enough to stay in time out. Probably forever with how many lives they took with how many times they took it.

  
  


“You can’t fix things by sitting here, you know that,” that was Chara, the ‘demon’ they blamed everything on. They looked a lot like them, only greener, and redder. They didn’t look messy, clean and nice looking. And the only reason why they were here was because of Frisks LOVE and EXP.

  
  


Frisk grumped and curled tighter into themselves. ‘That’s not the point,’ they had signed with their chubby little fingers.

  
  


“Yeah...” Chara had rolled their eyes, not even bothering to count how many times they’ve had this conversation. “You’re in time out, great, good job, maybe actually reset now and stop being miserable. I like staying dead you know, I don’t like being reawakened just to watch you murder my friends.”

  
  


Frisk had flinched, it wasn’t unoften Chara would be more than a little blunt, they never was one to beat around the bush like their father.

  
  


‘I don’t deserve a reset, I don’t deserve a do-over.’ if hands could wail, Chara would say that’s the silent sound Frisk was making right now, if that made any sense at all.

  
  


“Deserve?” Aghast, Chara tittered impatiently, trying to drill home a point, “It’s not about you, or what you deserve! It’s never been about you! What about the monsters that are dead, did they deserve to die?” The ghost panted, they needed no air but for some reason the habit of breathing never dies with you it seems.

  
  


They took a moment to observe Frisk, who was now just a sniveling messier ten year old. Chara found themselves pitying them. They never not pitied them. Frisk was a lot like Chara in more ways than just looks, especially before Chara was lucky enough to be adopted into a loving family. Something Frisk never seemed to be able to have.

  
  


“Frisk,” Charas voice felt like there was string wrapped around it being pulled taut. “Frisk, look,” They hovered down, ascending a palm on Frisks shoulder. The child wouldn’t feel it but Chara hoped they would understand the gesture. “You deserve to have a family,”

  
  


“what?” they had choked quietly, their hands numb to feeling now.

  
  


“You deserve to be loved, cared for and you deserve a family and a place to grow up safe. Just like everyone else, just like me, just like your friends. Everyone.” They let that sink in for a bit,

  
  


“But I… hurt people, people hate me...” they had sniffled, if the teen wasn’t used to Frisks raspy voice they would’ve never had hope to understand.

  
  


“You did, and I’m not saying any of that goes away, even after you reset there’ll still be some damage you wont ever be able to take back, to make right. But you still deserve love, you still deserve to feel safe, some one _will_ love you Frisk, _I love you_ , just keep going. You will find a family,”

  
  


“Promise?” a delicate thing of hope.

  
  


“I promise,” and Chara clung to it like a life line.

  
  


“Promise you’ll stay?” frisk wanted a hug from Chara, find some sort of comfort. Chara would if they could.

  
  


“I-” Chara wasn’t sure, but after Frisk sobbed brokenly they nodded, “Yes, even after you reset I’ll stay, but you will have to wake me up again-” Frisks face darkened, “not by killing anyone, just...” They waved their hands uselessly, “I don’t know, when you’re over my grave yell my name, usually it’s the determination that wakes me up.”

  
  


Unsure of any other performative way to wake Chara from death they slowly nodded.

  
  


“Reset Frisk, go back I will help you this time, we will find you a family,” Chara tilted their head trying to capture Frisks eye.

“Okay,” They took a deep breath before getting up and making their way out of the cave, they hated climbing, but it was the only way out and they weren’t thinking about ever coming out again after going in. If they had, they wouldn’t have chosen a slippery ice cave.

  
  


It didn’t matter how many scrapes and bruises they’ve acquired, it didn’t matter at all that they bit their tongue or they could hardly stand to the increasingly bitter cold their body becoming pale blue. How they hadn’t died already was no mystery with the surmounted determination. It never mattered because in the temporary end Frisk had done what they do best. They fell down. Again and again and again. They found their endless pit at the edges of snowdin, cold dark and eerily still, and unceremoniously jumped.

  
  


They liked this form of death best, they read up on it before they even approached the mountain, and before they could reset time. An article about how when you fall from great heights the victim never feels pain. They pass out if they’re high enough due to the lack of oxygen, and they don’t even make it to the bottom before their body inevitably cripples and breaks.

  
  


Frisk knows well enough more than anyone how delicate flesh and bones can be.

  
  


The only downside to this, was the rush of pure fear, regret and the unshakable primal will to live. It doesn’t matter how much pain Frisk was in, how much they thought they wanted to end it all, they still found themselves bartering with whatever god for their life.

They didn’t want to die. They just wanted to be happy.


	3. This is a happy ending, right?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fallen human resets.

Alphys paused behind the door as it closed. Sans hadn’t even acknowledged her. You can feel her anxiety, her guilt, everything. You’d be surprised if Sans didn’t feel this storm of emotion.

  
  


You quietly observed the skeleton as the two of you approached. Alphys bypassing a conveniently placed chair, her tiny clips of her feet coming to a soft stop in front of Sans, who was still staring at his bare feet. You could’ve sworn, with the indent of where he was sitting on the edge of the bed, that he might’ve not moved since he’s been here.

  
  


“Hey,” She whispered, but it sounded so, so loud against the backdrop of silence. Not even air conditioning or the buzz of lights could be heard. Erie how he hadn’t lost it already from this.

  
  


He hadn’t even twitched, her hand went to his shoulder worriedly, “Come on, say something Sans,” Her hand guided his chin up, you shivered at his hollow eye sockets, his emptier grin. He still didn’t say anything, and to this she sighed. Grabbing his hand and holding it out for him her other went to delicately pinching the nape of you neck and slowly plopping it in his hand.

  
  


He blinked and fuzzy eyelights faded in from the dark, focusing on you. You felt so put on the spot, you looked back at Alphys betrayed. Alphys hand left his, once sure he wouldn’t drop you. “Do you recognize them? Do you…?”

  
  


“How?” His voice croaked after a few moments of scanning his other hand came up to cradle you, “How is this possible, they’re alive?” you felt like he could just look right through you, he held you close to his chest where you could feel his own emotions and a familiar melody. Sans looked up to Alphys for answers.

  
  


“I don’t know, but I don’t think they ever died… they just look different now,” Alphys finally sat down, relieved Sans was finally talking. “I don’t think they remember either of us, or what they used to be… They were just a blob with legs before...” She gestured to your very cat like appearance.

  
  


“They feel like sand…” he observed, “It’s really you isn’t it?” He asked you directly, having held you up to his face, you could see luminescent tears gathering, the loneliness crowding your previous unwillingness to be here.

  
  


You stared at him blankly, not because you didn’t understand but because you felt so so so stressed out. This was just a loaded question. What did he mean by that? Were you, you? You didn’t know, and you didn’t know how to answer him. And even if you had the faintest idea how to, you still wouldn’t bring yourself to make a peep. Because once you do, everything will change.

  
  


“I don’t think they can understand Sans,” Alphys mumbled guiltily. “I’m so sorry, I-” she gasped, “I did this to them, I really thought I was doing to right thing, I-” Oh great now you had two monsters crying, “They’re harmless, kind, clever, and I- I- ruined them!” She sobbed.

  
  


Ruined!? You? Hardly the case. You were fine! You felt fine. You’ve always been fine. And in the off chance that you were not fine, it would probably have something to do with something that happened far far far too long ago you don’t care to remember it.

  
  


Sans grabbed her arm, steadying her, he was quietly sniffling himself. All in one motion the two of them were on the bed snuggled close with you in between. “I forgive you Al,” he said, earnestly pulling her close. Oof you were getting squished and shrouded with two different melodies that don't quite harmonize well.

  
  


“I should’ve believed you,” She continues, “I know you didn’t do anything wrong, I’m so sorry,”

  
  


“I forgive ya, really Al,” He insists, his voice breaking a tad. “Totally understand what it looked like then, can’t blame ya too hard,” He chuckles lightly yet there was a very heavy feeling in the air still, “besides, I get to do my favorite thing all day now anyway, I’m on cloud spine!” it was a weak attempt, but it was enough for an audience willing to grasp at anything at this point.

  
  


Alphys stopped blubbering for a second and gave him a critical look, only to snort “what do you mean? Sit around all day?”

  
  


“You really can’t blame me, being a criminal is back breaking work, and I think I might be coming down with cabin femur...” Sans wilts a bit.

  
  


That was terrible.

  
  


“That was terrible,” Alphys agrees with you,

  
  


“I know! They could at least take me out for some fresh air, I swear, there’s never a skull moment with _those two_.” He said this sarcastically, bitterly he side eyed the door behind him.

  
  


You’ve had just about enough with this nonsense, Sans cannot crack jokes like that with tears swimming down his skull. Its just weird! You wiggled from in between them, angry, angry at yourself mostly. You feel like you can do something about this situation, speak up, show there’s no reason for any of this angst. You can do more, you can break him out, you can make things better.

‘but what if they get mad at me?’ you worry yourself. It was a fleeting thought that passed through quickly, but it left a bit of a seed, or maybe it was there already festering. The roots already taking place made you feel flighty, paws ready to bolt.

The moment you were to speak up the worst of your fears may come alive. Taking responsibility for one. And two, no doubt the two scientists will have questions, those of which (in your head) are accusatory, hostile, and if they were feeling particularly inclined they may go straight for the jugular with ‘why didn’t you stop this situation from going down hill in the first place? Why did you fail us? ’ You could’ve done something different, something that wouldn’t have ended up inconveniencing the two with your inherent passive behavior.

You know you can do more, it’s the only thing you were sure of. Whispers of chants in the back of your mind ever since you fell, promising and pleading with you. ‘you can do more, you can do better, you can make a change’ a whole supply of power just beneath the surface, you refuse to tap into, you shout back at it, you don’t want to. You don’t want to. You don’t want to!

“Kissy?” You hear Alphys, snapping you from your inner turmoil, a hand brushed your back. It was Sans, and now you’re suddenly aware again.

“You seriously named them kissy?” he still managed to sound critical under the layers of strain from crying his eye sockets out.

“Yes, it’s a perfect name! They look just like a cat,” Alphys observed you close, her finger under your chin tilting it up, “You felt that, right?”

Sans nodded continuing to pet your back, attempting to soothe. “You sure they can’t understand us?”

Now was your chance, now you needed to say something right? Something to help this situation surely!

Alphys snorted, “I hope not,” She looked embarrassed. The thought of someone she hardly knew witnessing her when she was so fragile or when she was picking her nose, she immediately thought that if you were self aware and all there, you would’ve rejected her a long time ago. The mere fact that you just might’ve not cared hadn’t crossed her mind. And plus! She’s been treating you like a pet! Cooing at you! Baby talking you! Alphys cannot imagine that anyone would stand for that.

Oh how wrong she was, jokes on her, because you found it hilariously delightful. Of course you only enjoyed being a ‘good kitty’ ironically. Only ironically! Really! It didn’t give you a warm feeling or a surmounting confidence boost or anything! You were fiiine, as long as it was ironic! Which it totally ~~100%~~ 120% was.

Sans looked doubtful, a single brow creased upward over his mock porcelain skull. “You’re just saying that, look at them Alph, they know what we’re saying… I think, at least a little bit.”

“But that’s just how cats are, aren’t they?” Alphys argued, not ready to accept what it might mean for the both of you if you had been… aware to some degree, dangerously, maybe more so.

“But they aren’t a cat Alphys, they’re a shape of a cat, look they don’t got any fur,” He was pretty sure cats were supposed to have fur. He wouldn’t know honestly, but books only ever failed him a handful of times. “They don’t even got any bones, see?”

He ran a finger over your ‘spine’, pressed down on you and just-! He was squishing you! Man handling you like some play dough!! Pinching, pressing, twisting! Your body shaped into what ever he pleased no longer cat shaped and you were NOT having it! He wanted bones so bad? Fur? Fine!

“Woah! hey what?” he sat up as you squeezed your way out of his churning grasp, Alphys had a worried expression, probably due to the fact she wasn't sure her friend should've been manhandling a little tiny cat like that. Your feet landed on the hard ground, but instead of having your usual soft patter you felt the newfound bones in your newly padded paws hit. You felt your body changing, it was growing, lilac fur replaced smokey charcoal ‘skin’, and muscles took hold from inside, wrapping themselves around and taking shape. And the terrifying thing was, it felt so natural. It was no problem at all for you to change, in fact you feel you could do it again! And again! Into what ever you wanted, the world was yours, you just had to decide when to pick up the control and wield it as your own. You felt yourself reaching, for something inside, something right there for you to pluck from its place, to call it yours. Power, control, the world was yours. The world was yours. The world was yours.

  
  


You snapped out of it. Control? Over the world? As if! You finished your circle and sat down on the ground, your tail wiggled and your body shook off the strange feeling that over took you. Everything, felt more real now. You could feel the temperature a little more easier, you could tell it was slightly humid, you can feel air rush into your lungs, the warmth of your blood, and the amplified buzzing of the lights and air conditioner, things you thought were nonexistent. Nothing was muffled to you, not even the shocked looks you were getting from the two on the bed.

  
  


Alphys looked about to faint. Sans? He actually looked hopeful. Because even though you didn’t say a word, you proved you were able to understand.

  
  


“You!” He said, “You can understand!” His eyes gleamed behind its puffy lids. “Neat.” You should’ve expected Sans to just casually throw away any fear you had, it wasn’t a relief and more of a strange mix disappointment and annoyance. You spent all that time worrying for nothing! It was almost like he just waltzed up to your sand castle(Not a very impressive one) that you spent days protecting from the waves, building it up, taking precautions, and instead of giving your sand castle even a moment of many it deserves, he kicks it!

  
  


“Kissy! Why didn’t you say anything!” She bit her nails, she was not as ecstatic about this revelation, the question that haunted you was finally being asked, “Oh god, they were actually reading my fanfiction...” She panicked.

  
  


Sans paid her no mind, “This is so weird, you’re actually a cat now aren’t you?” You slowly blinked at him, his grin widened almost manic as he leaned closer from the bed. If he wasn’t careful he could-

  
  


He fell.

  
  


“Alphys,” He said before scrambling up to his knees as he came closer to you, a look of intense curiosity.

  
  


Oh god, what have you done!? You were thoroughly regretting your momentary loss of control on your emotions. How foolish you were! How foolish! You wished you could cry, wail, anything! But instead you simply looked back at him passively. Calm, collected, possibly oozing the aura of ‘all knowing’. Which is a common side affect from disassociating and ejecting yourself from the situation as you slowly come to terms that… Things will be different now.

  
  


You were so divulged in your inner panic, that you missed the part where Alphys reluctantly came down from her own miniature freak out and since then had joined Sans on the floor. The two now adopting thoughtful, calculating looks, all their attention on… you. How dreadful.

  


Behind you a door slides open, “Doctor Alphys, is everything- By the Angel above!” Galahad jolted, his spear being gripped tight.

  
  


“A cat!” The younger guard wailed, “How did a cat get in here! Ma was right! I should’ve brushed my teeth!” he shook like one of those tiny patriotic flags you see on those buffed out motorcycles going twenty over the speed limit.

  
  


You’re not completely sure what happened after that, you tend to naturally tune out chaos. You’re just not a fan. And now with amplified hearing, it’s even less amusing. You kept of thinking the same thought over and over, ‘the little whimsum went to go get the king,’ ‘the little whimsum went to go get the king?’, ‘yeah, the little whimsum went to go get the king,”

  
  


One thing led to another, shouts, the spar of spears and lightening, a confused bout of dialogue, and in the middle of it all you found yourself on the bed along with Sans who was just as useless as you in this situation. It wasn’t until Asgore appeared in the door, his frame massive and intimidating as you remember, did you come back to. You craned your neck from Sans lap, and even though Alphys stood between you two and the king you can still see him slowly approach assessing the situation.

  
  


“What is the meaning of this?” Bright confusion colored his face, however his voice rumbled like a storm. You assumed he was still probably a little upset his personal judge was a ‘traitor’, or maybe he was pulled from some very important duties for what seems to be a cat.

  
  


Valider stepped up to the plate, “Just like you ordered I’ve reported any and all strange occurrences, this cat showed up in the room, we don’t know how or why.”

  
  


“I-I brought the cat!” Alphys explained rushed, “F-f-for Sans,” Slightly grateful that wasn’t a lie, but the stuttering gave way to something suspicious.

  
  


Asgore seemed a tad estranged. But he understood the Whimsums fear around cats, whimsums tended to be a bit superstitious and flighty. “Is that… an actual cat?” He wondered out loud, curious now he hasn’t seen an actual animal fall down the mountain in years. He stepped closer to Sans, Alphys reluctantly stepping aside but hovered close. She looked like a kid trying not to let their parents find out that instead of cleaning their room, they stuffed all their junk under a rug.

  
  


You felt Sans arms tighten around you slightly as he leaned back. His eyes going dark. Strangely silent, perhaps he knew how powerless he was in this situation. He knew what was to come, there was no stopping it.

  
  


*Asgore Checked you.

  
  


You felt it, like a cold wave going straight through you, he was able to see your soul now, you felt you were pulled into an encounter and your soul was exposed.

  
  


A very strange and new experience for you, and you can’t say you liked it.

  
  


“Galahad, Valider, escort Alphys to her own cell,” Asgore mutters quietly after several dawning realizations, you almost heard five different metaphorical hearts break.

  
  


“Sir I can explain!” Alphys rushed forward, her claws somehow already bound, as if the whimsums have been expecting this from the start, happy to use up another cell, unfortunate it had to be Doctor Alphys. “Don’t hurt them! Just give me time to explain Asgore,”

  
  


The king turns swiftly, the speed incomprehensible to his size. His trident slams in front of the Lizard startling her in her tracks. The whimsums were strong enough to be able to lift her an inch off the ground. “I’m sorry Alphys, as your king, I must do what is right for my people. I do not blame you, please, go to your cell we will discuss this later.”

  
  


“No!” She shouts jumping up to escape the grasps of the guard. “No no no! Don’t do this! You don’t know what your doing! It’s Sans’ soul mate, please!”

  
  


You look up at Sans, his face buried in your fur, the feeling of wet dampening the fluff. He held you like a pillow. And for once you didn’t mind, you think you might actually be afraid for once. The king approached when the door finally shut, cutting off the sloppy cries of the scientist. You felt like you have the terrible case of whiplash. In a few hours your life, once again was changing.

  
  


How had things gone so wrong, so fast? Was this your fault? You met the eyes of the king, “Sans, this is your soul mate? Truly?”

  
  


Sans nodded behind you, too choked up to speak. You found it hard to purr right now, to soothe him.

  
  


“Then I am deeply sorry, I wont make you choose,” He sounded like he was doing Sans a favor. “would you like a few moments before…?” Asgore wasn’t going to lecture him, explain to him why what he was about to do was for the best. Sans already knew, at least, he hoped the skeleton knew.

  
  


Sans nodded again, and you watched the king pad away, the door sliding closed behind his trailing royal violet cape.

  
  


You let a few silent moments wash by after the doors slid shut, Sans shoulders shaking, already exhausted from the emotional turmoil this day has brought. It’s not even midday yet.

  
  


“I don’t wanna lose anymore,” He whispered, “I haven’t even got to know you yet, it’s not fair, why won’t the kid reset already?”

  
  


You shrugged, “You’re really not missing out on much,” you whispered back referring to yourself, he stilled but decided not to ask about your choice to speak now and not then. “and I’m sure the kid will reset soon,”

  
  


He chuckled bitterly, “You don’t even know what I’m talking about...” sighing, resigned, “I appreciate it though,” he really was starting to think all of this was permanent. “I… Normally wouldn’t do anything, but I want to now. How ironic is that?” He choked up, “The one time I actually want to get up and act is the one time I can’t,” he breathed a hollow laugh.

  
  


“how can we open it up? Can we break it?” you ask tapping the collar, thinking up some form that might help. If you can turn into a fat cat you can turn into something else.

  
  


He sits up slightly, Sans’ eyes rove the quiet unassuming room. “Hold on,” You felt his grip tighten again, his guard up. “do you feel that?”

  
  


You search where his gaze was at, you felt nothing, you were confused “What do you mean? Behind the mirror?”

  
  


“No, everywhere, it’s happening.” His hand goes up to grab something, something you cant see. He ends up just swatting the air.

  
  


You begin to wonder if he was actually losing it, a slow build of burbling laughter coming deep within his chest. “The kids resetting,”

  
  


“They are? Now?” You press on.

  
  


“We have at least a minute before everything goes back,” He looked so relieved, you’d never think Sans of all people would actually like a reset. But somehow it made sense, didn’t he lose his brother?

  
  


“But where will I go?” You wonder out loud. If time is resetting you may just as well disappear.

  
  


“Don’t worry, you’ll be back home up on the surface.” His face darkens, “I don’t think we will meet again,”

  
  


“Why not?” He could hear you pouting, this sent a bit of a flutter in his soul knowing you cared to know him too.

  
  


“I wont remember you, and I can’t write down in my journal to come get you when you fall, if you fall again...” He mutters, “And there’s no way you can remember, so, we wont ever meet...”

  
  


“So, you just need to be able to get to your journal and you will be able to remember?” You asked, your paw already taking shape to what you desire.

  
  


“Sorta, that’s clear in snowdin, and we are stuck-” a resounding shatter and a few jolts of electricity were sent down your newly formed arm, a crab shaped claw shrouded in shadow, smashing the collar loosely hanging around his shoulders into bits. How he hadn’t noticed until now was no mystery to you.

  
  


“Well, you’re free now, you can teleport can’t you?” You asked shaking your reformed cat paw from the electric jolts(Something to focus on other than the roaring chants that grew louder with your sudden shift), you didn’t receive an answer from the skeleton. The last thing you saw was his flabbergast face, unbelieving and full of questions and panic before you fell onto an empty bed.

  
  


That was that you had guessed. Wondering where Asgore went off to, perhaps taking the time to discuss with Alphys on her transgressions.

  
  


It only took a full second to realize you had no distraction. You were alone, curled up on an empty bed with however many seconds left dreading the end. A reset could end you for real right?

  
  


You were pretty sure you never existed in this world before you ‘fell’.

  
  


It never mattered.

  
  


Because before you knew it, the world that once was, was dead. Time pulled everything back, tearing at the seams of reality just to settle back months before, spiraling in on one special day in particular.

  
  


The day the last human fell underground.

  
  


And the fact was, you did not exist. No where in the world was there a trace of you. Except for one. One froggit in particular woke up that morning feeling perturbed. He wasn’t sure why, but something was missing.

  
  


Being the simple froggit he was, he eventually shrugged off this feeling and continued his marry way to guard the entrance to the city ruins as per usual. Not knowing he would meet his first human for the first however many times before that day.

  
  


This human, Frisk, found things to be very different having Chara around. Which turns out, to the delight of the children, it really just takes a bit of shouting to wake the dead from sleep. They both agreed this was somehow insultingly simple.

  
  


Things were better though, Frisk had thought. They felt less alone in a world of monsters they couldn’t bring themselves to trust fully. They felt how genuine Chara was, this link they had was strange and it sang to them both.

  
  


Instead of terrifying, the journey became an adventure, Frisk made connections with the monsters, they had made friends.

  
  


No matter what the two faced, whether it be bound by spiders silk, japing skeletons, or ““human killer robots”” they found themselves laughing, dancing and dodging. No issues, no fear, just play.

  
  


By the end of the day, when the sun was setting and the monsters were clambering down the mountain, where frisk would usually part ways from Toriel they instead took her hand at the encouragement of Chara.

  
  


They still weren’t sure about being an ambassador and even less so having a new mother. But they trusted Chara. Chara keeps their word, and so will Frisk.

  
  


Everything would turn out okay.

  
  


And everything did turn out okay. Before they even realized, they had a new schedule, a new home a new school, the friends they made underground stayed, Alphys, Undyne, Sans, Papyrus, Napstablook and even Mettaton! Who was world famous by now. They all lived together for a couple weeks before they all finally found their own homes.

  
  


Which was to the relief of both the determined children, everyone was getting incredibly antsy having little to no privacy from one another being under the same roof. And the king and queen? Frisk shudders thinking about the blizzard of hurt feelings between those two.

  
  


Asgore turned out to be not a bad dad. Even though he tried killing Frisk, they both found an even ground. Frisk was always so interested in listening to him and his stories while they fished by the nearby lake. They got along so well, Toriel reluctantly split custody of the kid.

  
  


Life was going steady for the most part, sure they had a few hiccups here and there, and now they were going to therapy on top of acting as ambassador and going to school. It was just busy, but it was good.

  
  


For you on the other hand.

  
  


Life was… New again.

  
  


In a world where you didn’t exist changed within a second.

  
  


You were back in the flower bed, you were back to exploring an empty ruins and you were soon back in the queens bed huddled, delirious, confused and scared.

  
  


This time, you were truly alone. But you would’ve never known anything different. After all, none of those things, dying, coming back life, living as a cat and breaking a skeleton out of jail never happened. The only indication it might have is a few scribbles of ink hastily scrawled across the most recent page of a very special journal. ( _ ~~And maybe through a strand of your DNA within a certain froggit~~_.)

  
  


This journal in particular was being reviewed once again by skeletal hands, familiar to its pages, to the words, and even(frustratingly) to the ketchup stains.

  
  


“Sans, you’re _sure_ you have no idea what this could mean?” Papyrus asked for the umpteenth time since he discovered it from the move. That’s when Sans gave him the ‘talk’. Not about the birds and bees, about time shenanigans. A very short and brief talk, but he caught on very quickly! It might’ve also had something to do with the fact Papyrus had a bit of an inkling anyway on the whole thing. This wasn’t the first time he’s been to the surface after all, he knew right away when he saw that sunset for the very ‘first time’ that he saw it for the ‘first time’ before! He felt it in his… bones!

  
  


“Nope, and I really don’t care,” Sans said from the couch, he was too busy picking lint from in between his toes to really pay that book any mind. Both of his socks now decorating the couch and floor under him. Papyrus’ eye twitched.

  
  


He elegantly strode over to his brothers side, “Maybe if I read it out loud again it can joggle your skull,” Sans rolled his eyes and sighed, but didn’t protest. Papyrus took this as the green light, “Ahem, ‘find the death soul, URGENT, underground in a few months MIGHT fall underground on this date, found in-’” He looked at Sans expectantly, as if that would help.

  
  


Sans continues to pick at a stubborn lint piece, not even giving his brother a glance.

  
  


“Really? Nothing? You can’t even look at me? And can’t you do that in the bathroom like a normal civilized skeleton?” Papyrus nagged frustrated at his brother for how little care he had. “It could be dangerous! A threat!”

  
  


“If it was dangerous,” Sans started slowly, “I would’ve said so in the beginning. Plus! If you’re right, and if we needed to worry about a ‘death soul’-” he said this with quotes “-falling underground, we probably would’ve needed to be underground for it to actually be a threat.”

  
  


“Why are you quoting yourself? These are your words Sans!” Papyrus slapped the book a few times with each word. “If you said there was a death soul, there’s a death soul!” Papyrus huffed, “We need to find it, before this situation you warned us about gets out of control, the date the death soul falls was two days ago after all, we could be doomed already and not even know it!”

  
  


“The only situation we have Papyrus, is with the kid, keepin them happy and keepin them from resetting again,” Sans had enough of this talk. “look, I’m beat, okay? It was a really fun day today watching the kids play in the park, tomorrow I gotta head to work,” Papyrus deflated and sighed, watching his brother walk up the stairs to his room really hit the nail in the coffin. He should’ve known his brother wouldn’t want to deal with it. He couldn’t blame him either, Sans was really busy nowadays.

  
  


Papyrus knew Sans had enough on his plate as it was, “Nyeh! Fine, I suppose I’ll take care of it myself then,” Papyrus watched his brother wave to him while entering his room down the darkened hall, jaw opened wide in a vicious yawn warm yellow light pronouncing his figure before disappearing for good. “It may be night,” he muttered to himself turning away from the now completely dark stairs, scratching his chin in thought looking at the front door. “but when there’s a potential danger about, Papyrus never sleeps!” It is without being said, Papyrus hardly ever sleeps anyway. His bed hasn’t seen him since last Tuesday, happily collecting an extra layer of dust for his next return.

  
  


It wasn’t long before Papyrus was loading his impressively red convertible, shiny, sleek, and very very cool. He loaded the back seat with his hiking gear, only ever used once unfortunately. He could’ve sworn he made plans to go hiking more often, his metaphorical heart sings to nature as if that itself was his soulmate. How hilarious.

  
  


He wore a meanie greenie beanie to keep his skull from getting cold, and his orange and yellow scarf with an emblem on the bottom. A gift from Alphys when he pretended to like Harold Poetry that one time and ended up liking it after going to the convention and getting drunk on their specially made wizard root beer. With a moss green padded jacket that made him feel invincible a sturdy khaki pants and his special spiked hiking boots he was ready to roll.

  
  


The mountain was calling to him, not literally, and he was more than willing to have an excuse to just drop everything and go out on an adventure. Possibly, to save the world from this death soul! “Nyeh heh heh!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Early Chapter maybe? My track of time is very off! I planned to post every two weeks. But I guess I'm ending up posting weekly.  
> I wasn't very happy with this chapter at first, but I think it's okay now. If you see any mistakes, I'm very sorry, let me know? I'm always willing to improve too, so criticism is welcome!  
> I don't have clear plans for this story, but I'm having fun with it!!


	4. F in the chat please

“There’s no place like home, There’s no place like home,” You chant clipping your frozen bare heels together.

It didn’t work.

Fuck!

  
  


Sans was a busy monster, filing papers on the daily, testing, re- testing and cleaning up failures. Even with Alphys by his side, work was an uphill battle in mud.

It wasn’t too uncommon the two monsters would break down and have healthy dose of crying at least once a week when things didn’t work out. Not that Sans cried often, its just around Alphys, her emotions tend to get a little stormy. Literally, and it rubs off. It’s the kind of monster she was, thunder monsters being thunder monsters and having their more under the weather emotions get broadcast. Or maybe it was just time to have a break, a real one.

Sans took a moment from his readings to look around the lab him and Alphys were holed up. They’ve been here endlessly working on a solution to the time resets. They had to fix this as soon as they could, they couldn’t risk going back in time anymore.

Alphys was going over the books again, or supposedly she was. Closer inspection shows the dinosaur was out cold with slimey saliva coating the waxy papers beneath her. Upon checking the clock he could see now the hands reaching upwards, it must’ve been near midnight.

He sighed tiredly and strolled up to her, “Alphys,” he said hushed calmly trying to rouse her. She didn’t stir, he tried again, slightly more firm, “Alphys,”

  
  


“Bwuah?” She replied finally lifting her head up a page sticking to her cheek like glue. “’M almost done mom, five more minutes,” Alphys roved around the pages with her little trimmed claws blearily uncomprehendingly, trying to get a grasp on whatever homework she left unfinished. Only the chuckle of her good old childhood friend truly roused her enough to feel embarrassed from the fond look she got. “Oh! Oh, uh, ahem” She straightened herself out, “so-sorry, must’ve-must’ve fallen asleep.”

“No skin off my nose,” he shrugged it off, “besides, I think it’s about time we head home, we’re pushing two days and I don’t think your fiance or my bro would be all too happy not havin us for that long.”

“That’s true,” she said hesitantly, thinking over the proposition as she wrote a few things down on a nearby stained note pad, “just give me a moment,” she firmly slid her finger over the top of the sticky note, right where she last read from what she could recall.

“We have an appointment with the family don’t we?” Sans asked, rolling back his shoulders and massaging his neck.

“Hm?” Alphys asked, she gave him a blank stare before it came back to her, “Oh yeah, yeah we do” Gathering her things and checking the clock on the wall. “We wont get much sleep tonight, we’re supposed to meet up around noon at that new park that opened up,”

“’M sure we can squeeze in a few naps, how about we just...” he waves his hands vaguely, “give ourselves time, we haven’t made any progress at all.”

They walked in unison down the darkened lab, it was huge, bigger than the one granted under ground. It took no time at all for it to be filled, with all sorts of machinery and tools and cabinets to hold those tools. Now that Sans was back working under the king as a scientist everything seemed smoother and somehow, miraculously organized.

Alphys held the door open, yawning and noting how the lights were still on “Yeah, just a few days wont hurt. We’ll be back on Monday, hows that sound,”

“Why not Tuesday?” Sans pushed his luck, “I mean, the kid is happy s’far as I can tell, and just cuz I aint a judge anymore don’t mean I lost my touch,”

“Well, sure, Undyne has been asking for a date, I’ll text you to see if we can push it back…” with a few approving mechanical beeps another door heavier sliding door opened the two were finally heading through halls of the public facility and into the cafeteria.

“That’s the spirit~” Sans sighed, he honestly just wanted a chance to veg all day.

The two couldn’t help but notice how busy it was, humans, monsters talking among each other and eating… lunch. The next immediate thing that captured their attention was how blindingly bright it was outside, lights pushing through the shades over the wall of glass on the other side of the room. It wasn’t too loud, most everyone here thrived on the peace and quite as most introverts prefer, but the clanking and the grating of moving chairs that echoed harshly against the sterile white walls was still a nightmare for any poor sleep deprived sap.

“It’s not midnight Sans, it’s mid-day.” Alphys grumbles rubbing her poor lizard blinkers. She took her phone out waiting for it to turn on and sighed even more depressed, “and we are late,” she stuffed it back in her pocket. “I think we should just head there now, before we rile up the queen herself,” she would need to text Undyne, but she was being a bad girlfriend right now and not doing that.

They shared a laugh, “Yeah, let’s, mind giving me a ride?” Sans asks politely, but he already knows she’ll say yes.

“Hey you two!” A chipper young woman, stepped up in front of the two retreating monsters, papers in her thin hands a wedding ring sparkled fantastically leaving speckles of light to adorn her boring yellow folder and clip board. Her eyes sparkled just as much if not more, in hope, maybe dampened in silent apologies as the two visibly suppressed a groan. She wasn’t much taller than the monsters standing at 5 foot seven, and having been lean and spindly. Her hijab had a decorative pin that resembled her glittering ring neatly pinned at the side of her head, she nervously adjusted it anyway.

“Kamila,” Alphys greets diplomatically, sweating a bit Sans simply waves and looked like he resigned to whatever fate life has decided for them.

“Beautiful day isn’t it? Kinda feels like should be raining though,” Kamila rattles off the basics of greetings but then quickly gets to the point seeing the two literally moments away from making the floor their new bed, “Anyway! Sorry, this will be really quick, I promise,” the two gave her a look, unbelieving,

“Like how last time with the colored light experiment?” Alphys asked, unamused, “Or the instant face masks? That didn’t take just a minute, it took a full week to get that junk off without pulling my scales off!”

Sans chuckled, they both knew Kamila was incredibly intelligent and most all the time her projects eventually turn to success and benefited the faculty in some form or another. It was always the two of them who gets the brunt of the failures right before the success. It wasn’t uncommon for employees to become test subjects, it was a courtesy especially if you happened to be a manager. Which was exactly what Sans and Alphys were. Managers. They had it printed on their little cards and everything. And maybe it was something to be proud and excited over for a good bit, but after the third experiment they realized maybe it wasn’t the _best_.

  
  


“Ah, yes, yes I’m still sorry,” Kamila chittered sheepishly. “It’s not an experiment this time however, I just need your signed permission for this next big project me and Arthur’s team are working on. No test subjects required!” She stood taller her clipboard littered with stickers of the various characters from video games and movies presented to them. It was her favorite clip board which was always at her side, she presented it to them, a flicker of delight and pride as the two monsters scan the wall of carefully written text. Their band of lawyers were always extremely particular with their wording, something the monsters were new to but quickly understood the cautious behavior the more time they spent with the humans.

It was quick, after all Alphys and Sans were in a rush to gather what energy they had to reach the family get together.

“Thank you guys! I’ll show you the results when I’m done!” Kamila bounced on her heels before quickly turning away practically running back to her division.

“Cute, isn’t she?” Sans continued to the doors, now that their first and hopefully only obstacle had passed.

“The more I learn about humans the more I realize how cute they are,” Alphys nods, “But Kamilas my favorite by far,” she quickly amended with “after Frisk of course,”

“After Frisk,” Sans nodded in agreement holding the door open for his friend, trying not to die from the bright beaming light called the sun.

  
  


“Where have you two been!? It’s been ages!” Papyrus exclaimed after waiting patiently for the minute spent watching Alphys and Sans approach at their leisure.

“Thirty two minutes, actually,” Sans supplied easily. Alphys giggled and greeted her gillfriend with a hug and a peck on the cheeks.

“Same difference!” Flowey helpfully chirped snidely, eager to please his favorite skeleton and using any excuse small or tall to argue with his least favorite skeleton.

Frisk nodded firmly, disproving eyes glowered their way.

“What took so long babe?” Undyne asked and lead them to their picnic table, Toriel was sitting there reading a book watching over the children as they played on the play ground. Asgore was setting it all up, the grill being layered with monster patties, hot cats and dogs, savory smelling and sizzling hot.

  
  


There were very few clouds in the sky and the family spent time catching up, eating and not succumbing to sleep deprivation under to cooling shade of the tree. And even though the bright sun was beating down on the world below a fresh breeze kept thing tolerable and maybe even nice. It’s been sunny for the past week, monsters in high spirits and such that it’d be hard not to believe the weather reacted accordingly to their elated state of being.

  
  


Games were played in the warm itchy grass, strange bugs were caught and presented to mother and father, maybe a few well timed pranks by who knows and even a quiet moment was had listening to chirps and nearby stream burbles, sitting and not only basking in the weather but also in each others company, a reminder of life is good.

  
  


When Papyrus took a break from the play with the children and others he trudged his way towards his brother and Toriel a worn book in his hand. Now was a good time as any, he thought to himself determined finally having a chance to gather his brothers attention for himself.

  
  


Sans chin rested on the picnic table, the rest of his body slumped over, his arms dangling lazily reaching down to the ticklish grass. It looked like his brother had melted slightly from the heat and became one with the table.

“I think,” he started and scooched his butt next to Sans nudging him in the process, “we need to discuss your journal Sans,” Papyrus knew his brother was a light sleeper, and by the twitch of his still shut eyelids Sans was awake and listening. Albeit not as attentive as Papyrus would like, he wouldn’t push it. Though, Toriel had peaked an interest ever since she bemusedly noticed him making his way over.

So it was her who responded, “Sans’ journal? Oh my, how scandalous,” He quietly murmured.

“Oh Toriel! No!” He flipped through the pages and brought it to the most recent one, “It’s his time journal!”

“I think I remember you mentioning that,” She hums and sets her own book down, taking the time to face him.

“Yes, during the ‘talk’, yes,” He nodded, “I was reading it, and there’s a lot by the way, I was reading it and apparently as of two days ago in our last timeline something else fell down underground.”

“Something?” Toriel tried not to sound peeved Papyrus would refer a human as something. Luckily, Papyrus was a pretty perceptive guy and immediately picked up on it.

“I say _something_ because alter Sans never bothered to specify what it was, just that it was a ‘Death soul,’” He quotes, he hears his brother snort in amusement.

“Oh my,” Toriel said worriedly, “that doesn’t sound good at all,” thought consumed her and she went quiet, “Do you mind reading the note he left us out loud Papyrus?” She asks politely.

He straightens himself out, “Of course I do not mind, in fact I was planning to narrate it in my brothers voice! ‘find the death soul, URGENT, underground in a few months MIGHT fall underground on this date, found in-” And he cuts off, his voice slower and slightly higher pitched, it was a terrible impersonation but his audience was enamored none the less. “And then it cuts off there,”

“If I had to guess,” Sans pipes up, finally, “Alter me was writing that right when a reset was in progress,”

“Just like you to slack off until last minute, hm?” Papyrus chastised, a fond smile playing at his cheeks.

“Yup,” Sans popped the ‘P’ and slouched back down, “if it was anything we had to worry about paps, I woulda put ‘danger’ somewhere in there, I don’t think you gotta worry.”

“I think there is something to be worried about,” Toriel supplies, “Death souls, well, me and Asgore only ever heard of it once in our youth, we weren’t sure what it meant then but humans wouldn’t have named it ‘death’ for no reason,”

“So you were there?” Papyrus lit up with interest, “Why didn’t you go looking for it?”

Toriel chuckled sheepish, “Oh, well I was a teenager around that time, and I was busy learning how to rule and my mother and father were busy dealing with a pandemic between our kingdoms and Asgores mothers.” She hummed, “I hardly think I would willingly go to a humans kingdom to find out, even if I had the time, I was very conservative back then. I adopted my mothers beliefs and advocated to separation of humans and monsters,” She looked embarrassed when she said this “I thought that monsters who went to live in the human kingdoms were essentially betraying their monsterhood, and then those who fell in love? Unfathomable,” She shook her head. “I was just a mini version of my mother then, repeating everything she had to say, blaming them for monsters illness, blaming them for the disruption of the forest and nature, they were ‘unnatural’ and evil my mother would say,”

“No way,” Papyrus clicked his hanging jaw shut, “do you still believe that?” Papyrus hardly believed she did, but he had to ask,

“Stars no, by the time we were imprisoned did I realize a little too late that it was a very narrow minded view, and adopting Chara really hit the nail in the coffin for me on _that_ matter.” The brothers stared at her, unsure if…

“You would think that would do the opposite for you,” Sans says skeptical, shoving his humor down for a moment “How were you not mad at the ones who imprisoned you?”

“Because we were essentially saved by being imprisoned. It was a very complicated and dire matter at the time, but to make things short, because of the sacrifices made by the humans who loved and cared for us monster kind, the seven mages bartered for our lives with the corrupt king Isiacc Balsiak. We were to be slaughtered if it weren’t for them, so instead we were imprisoned, to one day be released again.”

“Isiacc Balsiak?” Sans said out loud, slowly, “really? Are you serious?”

“Why do you know of him?” She asks, genuinely interested.

Papyrus tests it too, letting it roll off his metaphorical tongue, “Isiacc Balsiak,” no it didn’t sound familiar to him.

Sans looked between the two, baffled. Deciding to say it one more time, slower, “Isiacc Balsiak,” bobbing his head to each syllable.

The message was not received. And never will it be it seemed with the blank stares.

  
  


Papyrus was a little frustrated with how he had gotten distracted by a lovely history lesson, because if he hadn’t gotten side tracked he wouldn’t have been trekking this mountain alone. It was dark, it was scary, and even though he had magic he wasn’t sure he could ward off resentful human ghosts that haunted the surrounding creaking woods and clinging underbrush.

His hiking boots padded quietly on the rock beneath him, he hopped to stone to stone, the higher the elevation the less trees were able to dig their roots into the hardened soil. It wasn’t too long until he found the opening, a gaping cave with magically placed roots lining the entrance, all much much older than he was.

He listened to the soft howling of wind echoed and became unearthly the deeper it went. He carefully slowed his pace to observe his surroundings, the last thing he wanted was to trip and fall, and though the ancient magic was put in place to keep him from getting hurt he’d rather be in complete control.

He shifted the weight of his bag, figuring it was best to get busy he placed it on the ground and began to search through it, tiny pebbles being knocked away into the grass. Papyrus’ eyes glowed a neon orange, years spent in the dark proved him useful in situations such as these, he couldn’t be sure if skeletons in general could see in the dark or it was the cause of a life time in a cave.

He gripped his metal four hook and pulled it out and unwrapped it from the protective cloth. A thick white rope came after, costed him a pretty penny to get his hands on the silky texture of Muffets special webbing. It would stretch to any length he pleased and should safely lower him down.

When he was all set, his backpack back over his shoulders, the hook wedged into a rock he pulled at the rope, originally just five feet now a few yards as he stood his back to the gaping hole of the underground his feet spread apart in a firm stance ready to gently maneuver back into the abyss. He tugged at it a bit, it gave a little too quickly but Papyrus kept faith the rope will not drop him. Tying it around his waist he drew in a breath, the breeze softly wisping past his skull quietly urging him to take the jump.

And so he did. With a decided push of the feet he was suspended in the air for merely a second before he plummeted down, the vertigo he expected to be cut short never ended and with dread he realized he wasn’t slowing down.

The fall was long enough for him to give out a primal cry of fear that echoed painfully through the rocky walls, if he hadn’t lungs the cold air wizzing past him would’ve stolen from his breath. Perhaps the only reason he hadn’t passed out.

Papyrus’ fear took over him, powerful and unrelenting but even now at the back of his head after some time did he realize the fall was taking too long.

  
  


A horrible ghastly howl reached your twitching ears. Heart rate spiking you began to twist your head every which way to locate the source. It was far away but with time it somehow progressively gained in volume. Was it getting closer? Why wasn’t it stopping.

You clutched the bright orange and red leaves from under you. You found a nice pile to rest in and to hide your foot from your view so you wont have to move or look at it. But you were getting to the point where you think you might be starving. You drank from the cool clear streams that would cut through the deactivated puzzles and abandoned rooms but sparsely, you weren’t sure how safe it was to consume. You were nibbling on a mushroom you found earlier, hardly enough and perhaps unsafe but again, you weren’t sure.

Your stomach pains forgotten however when the howling started. You decided to stay still, waiting for any change as you stared down the darkened hallway before you. This was the excessively long room, you recognized through foggy memory where Toriel “leaves” the human to test them for something you don’t remember…

You studied the dark, that overshadowed any shapes too far away from you. Anything could be there, anything at all could be lurking and waiting to strike and kill you. To hurt you. You try not to think too hard about the dancing shadows on the corner of your eyes. You try not to lose it to the dark and the games of your adrenaline ridden mind. You try to think rationally, you try to identify the howls.

You slowly come to a realization to the familiar fear that laced the voice unknown to you. You haven’t met a single soul since you’ve been here. Convinced you had died and this was some purgatory, and the only way you can comprehend it it through something familiar. Which would explain why everything mimicked your favorite video game.

Coming to a decision, one you didn’t want to think too much about least you lose your only nerve. You stood on shaky legs, heavily on one than the other. If someone needed help, shouldn’t you help them?

It could be a lure, it could be a trap, someone calling for help only to take advantage of you when you arrive. Your bare feet padded in a broken pattern, the howls morphing into a clearer yell the closer you got. With how loud it was you surprised to not see them in the next room. Or the next.

It was only when you stumbled and hit the wall next to the door that lead to the cave area did the screaming come to a sudden halt. The quiet now more eerie and terrifying. Had they seen you? Heard you? Do they know you’re there? Was this where they’ll sink their claws into your flesh and eat you alive? Or worse…?

You squeezed yourself into a corner, not daring to look into the room past the door. Your eyes shut tight you waited, your leg trembling from the overwhelming pain you continue to ignore. You knew, from the back of your mind it was infected, and that’s why it hadn’t healed on it’s own yet. But as always, you convince yourself it’ll go away, it’ll get better on its own.

When there was nothing but silence for the achingly long minutes that passed you got back up, whispering “he...hello?” Your voice so small and unfamiliar you decided to never attempt it again. Nothing responded to you and you braved the walk again.

Nothing, nothing nothing. Just empty rooms and darkened skies. The bright green grass you once saw encased in the nights shadow the cold that came with it brushed at your ankles and pooled. If you strained your eyes you could see the openings up above. But it was no use, your search for the other soul was useless so far.  
You dared to look deeper into the cave, where you knew was where humans fall. The entrance to the underground. Someone must have fallen, you wondered if they were dead. Or, extra dead. Can you die after you die?

Something told you yes, of course.

Trembling hands pressed against the cold damp walls, you heavily leaned against it for support as you shut your eyes and walked forward into the dark, dark corridor. You tried not to imagine the hands reaching for you from the corners, you tried not to imagine the figure following right behind you at your heels, you tried not to imagine the faces of unknown watching you, waiting and the sharpened teeth and claws reaching for your jugular, your back, your hips your heart...Your teeth chattered, the only sound in the dark but you could hear more, the whispers the incomprehensible words and promises you couldn’t make out but you knew, _you knew_ they were going to get you.

run

They were right behind you, you knew it, you can feel it, you can hear it, they almost have you, they were going to get you!

Run

You stumbled from going too fast, but you were almost there, your eyes widened now and you scrambled to leave the darkness behind you, the light of the moon draped over the golden flowers you could make out a figure and silver string that sparkled and reflected the light above.

~~****~~The darkness was left behind as you threw yourself into the light, crashing into who ever was laying there, someone much taller than yourself.

“AH!” It was that voice! The same one from before, you felt the warm but sharp body move from under you quickly kicking you away with his boot and painfully pushing himself to furthest wall with a few labored gasps. you got the breath knocked out of you as a sharp jagged rubber heel found its way in your face, you could almost feel your neck nearly snapping from the force the only thing you could do was crumple on the ground, whine and hold your nose.

Your hands were grossly covered in warm sticky blood in no time at all. Despite the ringing in your ears and your vision blurring you could see what looked like a mock skeleton, teeth too long, jaw to angular, and eyes far too expressive. He was gasping for air strangely, and familiar he was his name wasn’t clicking he was giving you a _look_ , a mix between insulted and worried. For himself and maybe a little for you, you were just sitting there looking at him through bright red hands, grossly contrast against your pale skin and hair.

He clicked his jaw shut after a bit of contemplation, your one eye peeking out at him with such intensity he found he had not a single word. Any protest any affronted comment or question died in his throat.

He was peeved and scared right out of his socks he was just tackled by an unknown while he was trying to regain feeling in his limbs. Falling from such heights, no matter the magic the flowers hold, was still very painful. But at least he was alive, for now.

When you didn’t look like you were going to attack him he returned your curious stare. Papyrus briefly wondered if you were the death soul, but severely doubted it. You wouldn’t have been what he was looking for, he was looking for something dark, scary and dangerous. You looked nothing like what he imagined to be a danger to the public. If anything you seemed frail, injured, and scared. Then why had you attacked him?

Papyrus found it hard to feel bad about kicking you, you really shouldn’t have tackled him like that, were you trying to hug him? Without permission?

“Now, I never expected to find a human down here,” He casually commented. You merely stared at him before nodding rigidly still cradling your nose.

Papyrus sighed exasperated pulling at his bag and ignoring the spasms of aches and pains in his joints. There was a towel, white and fluffy for himself to enjoy. He looked back at you his gloved hand tightening slightly and tugging it free from the items. It wasn’t for just himself anymore. Not a big deal, he can turn this around, this sour introduction must have some sort of silver lining. He hasn’t even introduced himself yet.

You watched him carefully made his way next to you, you sat very still as he handed you a towel.

Gingerly taking it with a tiny, “thanks,” Papyrus sighed in relief when cleaned yourself up and sat down next to you hoping to rest a little longer before getting down to business. Your face flushed against the soft material as you held it there, waiting yourself for the blood to run dry.

“I would say its nice to meet you, human, but why did you attack me?” He finally asked, only getting more confused by the minute. You displayed no motive or emotion other than that intense stare which he wasn’t really sure what that meant.

“I didn’t,” you explained very helpfully.

“What were you just doing then? Jumping on me like that?” Papyrus huffed and crossed his arms.

You actually had the decency to look guilty. “”m sorry, didn’t mean to, really...”

You jumped and nearly screamed when a hand fell down on your shoulder, a slight squeeze of reassurance was anything but, you looked up at the skeleton finally recognizing him. He said to you “I forgive you human, it’s alright,” He smiled brightly, and genuinely. But you still wanted his hand off you immediately.

You nodded and got up and walked a few feet from him just to sit down again. Right where he cannot reach you. Your shoulder tingled and you felt like there was poison lurking just under your skin where he touched you. You didn’t hate him, you really didn’t! Just, the touch startled you. It’s been awhile you think, since anyone’s ever touched you. But he looked hurt regardless, you weren’t sure how to explain to him… Not even sure how to explain it to yourself.

Was that rude of you to move like that? You decide to distract yourself, “You’re Papyrus,” you state, a matter of fact.

He brightens slightly, but notes not to touch you again, tucking his hand under his other. “Why yes! I am, human! You have heard of me? Of course you have, I am after all the great and influential Papyrus, mascot of monsters!” He announced proudly.

You drank up this information carefully piecing together what you knew. This hardly felt like a dream anymore. And though the dawning reality was terrifying you kept calm. At least on the outside. So it was post pacifist, the monsters are free, and it’s been long enough for Papyrus to want to travel back underground for what ever reason, and maybe things are going well enough for monsters to have an established media presence. You nodded at him slowly, “Why are you down here?” you get straight to the point.

Papyrus’ eye brow twitched up, “I’m sorry human, I… What was your name? I must’ve missed it,”

You decide to answer honestly, “I don’t know,”

Brows furrowed and a contemplative frown, Papyrus knew you weren’t lying that was for sure. He has gotten so good at reading humans as of late, not that he was bad at it before. “How peculiar, and I am to guess you fell down here recently?”

“I’m not sure about falling down, but it’s been awhile.” He noticed your hand clutching your stomach, the fabric you were wearing caved in frighteningly too far.

“Oh.” He quickly got up and grabbed his bag from the wall, his bones regretting that he had left it so far away, “Here,” he placed a granola bar in your cleanish hands now, the towel folded and placed next to you. “When we get to Snowdin I’ll make you something more, but you think this will do for now?”

You really couldn’t answer over the granola in your mouth unfortunately but you did hesitantly nod.

“Great! Now,” He grabbed the towel and pushed it back into his bag. “since you’ve been here for awhile human, I am in search of a ‘death soul’”

“How strange,” You comment and he nods vigorously.

“yes, indeed, especially since it’s hasn’t ever been heard of for centuries, but it’s more than just strange human, it’s a danger to everyone above, I have reasons to believe it fell down here not too long ago and I’m on the hunt for it!” with spry he lifted himself up and waited at the entrance to the rest of the underground. The dark hallway behind him screaming and clawing at your attention, you shivered, you swear you could hear crying and wailing of unknown voices. And judging from Papyrus he doesn’t seem to hear it, it was really all in you head. There was nothing to fear other than the death soul.

“I haven’t seen anything since I’ve been here… Just… dark...” You got up not taking your eyes off the hallway. Papyrus glanced warily down the hall, sensing your unease.

“Were you…?” Papyrus started, “were you running from something when you ran into me?”

Your face flushed with red. “Yeah...” continuing to be honest “the dark, it was… frightening so I ran… and it was scary.” You hugged yourself incredibly embarrassed, by both your actions and your juvenile wording. “When I heard you screaming I thought you were a monster,”

“I am a monster,” Papyrus tilted his head amused.

“N-n-no no sorry not a monster, I thought you were something scary and bad.” You limp up next to him still staring down the hallway, “I’ve been alone ever since I woke up, I can’t remem-remember my own name, and and and and I was too scared to go past the ruins doors, and I was too scared to come back here… but then I heard your voice and I thought maybe either you would kill me or you were hurt… I don’t know and then I got to this part and the hallway was dark andIcouldn’thelpitbutitfeltlikesomethingwasbehindmesoIrushed-”

you gasped for air “and then I tripped and fell onto you I’m sorry!”

“Wow.” Papyrus commented stepping away and giving you space. You couldn’t help but feel like he hated you now, “You… you sure are something...” he stated, he wasn’t trying to be mean so he refrained from saying anything more, the strangest part was that you didn’t seem to be lying at all, which was weird! You remembered his name, but not your own? A puzzling person indeed but a puzzle to be solved after he captures the death soul. “For some one so...” he waved his hands around searching for the right wording, “for someone such as yourself, being afraid of the _dark,_ ” he truly tried not to snicker he really didn’t mean it “and who knows what else, you don’t seem all that afraid of me, human, a real monster,” gestured to himself fluidly, almost bowing.

“You’re not scary,” you state, dead pan, “in fact you’re kinda goofy.” you verbally jab back at him, humiliation written on your face.

“I am no such thing human!” but then he reconsidered with a smile, “Okay maybe I am a little, I can make great with the title ‘towns favorite skeletal goof ball’ I think,” well at least he was just dealing with a coward and not a xenophobe. He also delightfully noted that humans consider being kicked in the face 'goofy behavior', or maybe you were just insane.

You hardly noticed when the two of you arrived at Toriels house. The dark being forgotten for a lively conversation between yourself and the great Papyrus. You said you would help him with his search for the death soul, but apparently he doesn’t even know what it looks like so you’re both kinda on the same page. Sorta.

“Human,” Papyrus asked in front of Toriels home, “Do you know who’s house this is?”

“No,” you were lying, and Papyrus knew, and you knew that he knew and maybe he knew that you knew that he knew. But you weren’t sure if you knew that he knew how much you knew or how little.

But even though you lied he pretended you hadn’t “This is Toriels home, the queen of monsters!” He announced with vigor, “Miss Toriel is a friend of mine and a better friend to my brother, and so I’m sure she wont mind at all if we borrow her home to fix your foot up.”

“My foot?” you ask dumbly, “what about my foot?” you refuse to look at it.

Papyrus’ face squeezed in disbelief, like he wanted to say ‘what the fuck is wrong with you?’ but ended up just gesturing to your toe. Which was very ugly and infected and also the very thing that slowed you both down making your way through the darkened halls of the ruins. “that’s not going to heal until we get rid of the infection human!”

“It’s not infected! Its fine! It’ll go away on its own!!” You quickly snap back turning away from Papyrus and shutting your eyes covering your ears.

“Don’t be juvenile! Human! Are you pulling my femur right now? Look at your foot!” He leaned over your shoulder trying to get you to face him.

You shake your head, “no it’s fine, I’m fine, there’s nothing wrong, we have to catch that death soul remember? We bet-better be off then ha ha!” You awkwardly try and squeeze past the skeleton blocking the door without touching him, his knee juts out completely shutting you off from continuing his hands on his hips his face unamused. “Whuh? Hey! Come-come on Papyrus, we-gotta go get the death soul right?” you giggle nervously, your limbs feel like jello in the wake of convincing Papyrus’ very stern frown. Asking him to join you in ignoring your foot was like asking a rock to move. “Papyrus, please?” your eyes water and go wide, your bottom lip sticking out and quivering. The only reason it was convincing was because you really did feel like crying.

  
  


“Nonononononono! Don’t! don’t touch it! Don’t you fu-fuc _k_ _ing_ touch it!” You screamed, you wailed, you kicked, you cried. You felt like a toddler, and you would gladly be embarrassed if you weren’t busy being controlled by your fear which screamed at you to run the hell away but unable to move under full weight of the skeleton whose bottom was pressed comfortably on your back.

_He was sitting on you_ , that alone enraged you, how he easily maneuvered your foot to a better, more controlled angle while he prepared the disinfectant. He had to lock you in one of the rooms to make sure you didn’t just run off to find it, and he would gladly say out loud he took no joy in wrangling you into semi submission, but to say the least Papyrus had a small streak of slight sadism underneath his flamboyant and heroic personality.

As soon as your foot was healed he can say sorry, and maybe you could too for acting so childish. If you really wanted to help him you would need to be in tip toe shape. The death soul could be anywhere. And well… Maybe you couldn’t do much other than witness him taking out the beast, but that was more than good enough for him. He wondered if you were good at writing, maybe a song or a mini story about this adventure could be written?

You actually quieted down finally and opted to covering your eyes and trembling. He could hear your heart breaking sniffles, and decided to get it over with and was pleasantly surprised not to hear a peep from your end. Only a few flinches here and there but ultimately, it got cleaned up and now you were sitting good as new at the table. Head down, pressed against the thick wood listening to Papyrus in the kitchen cooking something. The fridge sparse but with his dimensional box he started to cook home made oat meal/meat ball subs. He hadn’t packed for a second person, which was a problem, but with high hopes he just might find something in Snowdin. And if worse comes to worse, he’ll call Sans.

  
  


“So,” Papyrus started, his plate clean, and yours not so much, “are you going to eat? Or are you… really truly that upset?” He had said sorry, and then he apologized again! He was starting to feel worse and worse by the minute, he really could’ve handled that situation better. Surely it wasn’t that bad though, if only you could just look at him then Papyrus could really get a good idea where you are right now.

He turned his head every which way, stretching to the left and right just to get your attention. But nothing. Time for a different approach, “Human! Answer me please, I don’t think I can take this much longer, I really only wanted to help you! I promise! I don’t feel so great now doing that to you, but how could I have let you continue with your toe like that? Please answer me I was only trying to help, don’t leave me alone human,” bingo, your head lifted, your face now laced with the guilt he planted.

“I’m sorry, no, I know,” You curled up in the seat pulling back to face him, your foot fully healed now and not needing to gingerly place it awkwardly, you suppose it’s only fair to say thank you, a part of you was paranoid beyond belief on why he would go through all the trouble and what was he expecting in return? That’s why you haven’t eaten, you cannot handle owing anymore than you do. “Thank you, for helping me. I...” You sighed ashamed and looked away, specifically from the food that smell admittedly delightful, “I’ve no idea what possessed me to act so...”

“Infantile? Cowardly? Immature? Childish?” Papyrus oh so helpfully supplied the bullets to your slaughter. Sure why not?

“I was going to say frantic,” you glared at him as he mocked a thoughtful look.

“hmmm, no I think I like mine better,” your jaw dropped as a protest caught in your throat. Because the truth was, his descriptors _were_ better, “but no matter human, I completely understand, we all have our moments of delirium, we can chalk it up to the fact you’ve been starving and also obviously losing it from staying underground for too long.”

You hadn’t protested this. You just clenched your teeth and glared at your favorite skeleton who was quickly dropping from well loved fictional character to a loathsome _very real_ pain in your side.

“Eat up now wont you?” Papyrus quiped, “the beast wont wait for us to gather our bearings, and the sooner we find it the sooner we can get you out of here,”

You sighed, but complied. For now.

  
  


Adventuring wasn’t really your thing, or so you thought at first. After putting a half eaten meatball sandwich into Papyrus' phone the two of you got to work in borrowing clothing materials from Toriels rooms until you were bundled up and ready to face Snowdin. Why you hadn’t done this before was probably because you really didn’t want to traverse an empty dark cave alone and cold and scared. But mostly you were just hoping to die before you had to.

With Papyrus at your side however, you felt… like you could do anything! The both of you ran every which way looking for any disturbances in the wood.

Through the trees, under rocks, over cliffs and even up cliffs. You watched him carefully from down below, fooling yourself into thinking if he falls you would surely catch him.

“Maybe the death soul doesn’t leave tracks, or anything like that… It’s the death soul right?” You asked picking apart stick with your nails for the hell of it. The two of you sitting at Sans' old post, Papyrus told you about it and how he would always catch his brother snoozing or half way there. 

“Are you suggesting because it’s a death soul it wont leave any signs of life?” Papyrus looked down at you, you were just now realizing now that it was a little brighter among the snow how truly tall he was compared to you. A full two and half heads taller than you, you think.

“No, I wasn’t going to say that but it actually makes sense, what you just said,” you kick some snow up, that landed on Papyrus’ boot, and in turn he kicked it back on yours. You watched in mild interest as it became a bit of a game.

“You have a point, human,” gladly giving you the credit, “if this beast is-”

“I mean are you even sure its a beast? Is it something tangible? Can we kick it? See it? Smell it?” you got on your knees to bury his feet in a mound of snow, and he politely stood still so you could.

“I think so...” Papyrus wasn’t sure, if it really wasn’t tangible you and him wasted two hours looking for the damn thing. If it is a thing. “No, no it definitely is a thing, the humans discovered it way back when and even gave it a name so it’s got to turn up.”

“Where’d you get this information any how?” you asked skeptically patting the snow firmly against the boots.

“well it was in my brothers journal, he said the death soul would fall in the underground, and the queen said it was a real thing, so that’s why I’m even down here in the first place.” He explained trying to fit the only pieces he had together.

“well why don’t you ask your brother then? If he wrote it, wouldn’t he know? And how does he know? Can he see the future or something?” A reset perhaps?  
Papyrus definitely couldn’t tell you about the resets. “Er,” he thought quickly for something, anything to ease the questioning, “yes. He can see the future.”

You looked at him with that dead pan expression.

“I-it’s true! Really! He can see… into other timelines...” That was close enough to the truth wasn’t it?

“It was a rhetorical question, geez you don’t need to lie to me.” It wasn’t exactly rhetorical but what ever.

“Er, sorry human, its actually top secret,” He actually lamented.

“I understand it’s okay,” this surprised Papyrus, humans always being ever so curious and this one not at all? Strange human indeed. “But you should totally ask. You know, just in case,”

Papyrus nodded, “Right, just in case,” he slipped his boots from underneath the mound of snow, the structure staying together to allow further construction while he went to make a very private call a few trees over.

  
  


“Papyrus?” Drowsy, Toriel answered on the final ring, “Do you realize what time it is? Haven’t we talked about this? No calls before eight unless it’s an emergency. Is this an emergency Papyrus,” annoyed and fed up, but being a mother has its perks in trained patience.

Papyrus tugged at his scarf and hunched over a bit, “It’s a bit of an emergency but no ones in danger, right now...”

A lot more awake sounding he heard shuffling on her end, “Papyrus whats wrong?”

“No-nothing!” Oh gosh he didn’t need to tell her everything right? Just a question, its just a question! “It’s just a question Toriel, about the death soul!”

“This couldn’t have waited until eight?” Her frown could be heard. No in fact Papyrus could practically see it, as she was laying back down in her bed.

“No! No, it is an emergency because I need to know if the death soul is a real thing, well I know it’s a real thing, but is it tangible? Can I beat it up? Capture it?” He probably said too much, wait no, he knows he said too much, Toriel was back up from her bed gathering her bathrobe.

“Papyrus,” she said warningly, “where are you right now?” She already knew where he was, she was just giving him a chance at not being in as deep of shit as he would be if he were to lie. Which of course he would never lie to his former queen.

“I’m just hanging out with a new friend! I’m not underground searching for a death soul that may or may not exist! Don’t be crazy! You’re crazy, absolutely bonkers! Nope I’m just hanging out with my new human friend, her name is...” Oh god what was her name, not even she knew her name. He looked at your small pale, ivory form still gently guiding the snow up and rounding the edges, your eyes a silver sheen of color almost like the moon itself, intently roving over your newly formed- “Poff. Her name is Poff and we are playing games, yes.”

“May I speak to her then,” Toriel crosses her arms, not expecting to talk to anyone at all, who names their child _Poff_ , snow poffs were a monsters thing.

“Y-yes, actually you can!” Papyrus was saved! He can actually do this, get away with it! He’ll apologize later to his friends after he captures the death soul. “Hey Poff!” He greets your confused look with pleading eyes handing you the phone.

“hello?” you great him back eyeing the phone in his extended hand.

“Yes, Poff, Toriel wants to talk to you! Because you are real, and you are definitely not fake, right Poff?”

You pick the phone from his hand and bring it to your ear, “Hello, this is Poff speaking how may I be of service for you today, Toriel?”

Clearly taken aback it takes a moment for Toriel to gather her bearings. “You’re name is Poff?” She asks, unbelieving,

“Yes ma’am, that is a real name I was given, a numb skull of a guy gave it to me and now I have- I’ve had to live with it all my life.” You glared at Papyrus who was sweating bullets. You really have to sell this don’t you, “I have daddy issues now,” you state this, unfeeling, you are dead inside.

“I… See, sorry to hear… that.” Her brain boots back up and Toriel decides to really get down to business. “Poff, could you tell me where are you and Papyrus playing, hm?”

“Playing?” You look to papyrus who nods fervently “yes! Yes, we are playing in the woods, there is lots of snow.”

“NYOH HOO HOO!” Papyrus wails and falls to his knees, “Don’t tell her that!”

“In june? Really?” You could practically hear the smirk in her voice and at this moment you knew you fucked the fuck up.

“Oh it’s june?” you laughed awkwardly, “I had no idea! My… bad?” You look over to a weeping Papyrus, he wasn’t full on weeping but he was muttering curses under his breath and beating the ground beneath him, goes to show you really cant rely on his input right now.

“Poff, if that is youre real name,” You nod, because you guess it might as well be your name, it could’ve been anything else but it’s not like you took the initiative on that one, “what are you doing underground sweetie?”

Oh wow she actually sounded genuinely concerned, “Oh uh, I… woke up here. And then Papyrus came and he said he would help me back home,” you might as well spill the beans, you never were good at keeping secrets, or at least, that’s how you feel, “I don’t remember where my home is though, or well, anything, and so I’m just, you know, hanging out and helping Papyrus find the death soul.”

She didn’t respond right away, in the end she decided to take it seriously, if you were lying it would be your own downfall. “That is very unfortunate, losing your memories and waking up alone down there, were you alone for long?”

You shrug, “Maybe a few days?” You clutch your stomach, “It… was kinda scary yeah.” You let out a breath you were holding, remembering how terrified you were of the whispering shadows and how utterly alone was exhausting.

“It’ll be alright Poff, make sure Papyrus stays with you until we can come get you two. I’ll take care of everything, okay?” Her voice was warm and reassuring.

“thank you,” your hands clutched at the fabric of your ratty red shirt. “i’ll see you soon?”

“Yes, very soon, thirty minutes give or take. Tell Papyrus to stay put, and stay safe,” You nodded at her firm promise,

“yes ma’am, I will ma’am thank you,” you hear her laugh on the other side before hanging up the phone.

Papyrus whined from his spot in the snow, “I really messed up this one.” he groaned into the snow, “the great Papyrus… is not so great right now.”

“I’m sorry I messed up,” You say earnestly, you felt guilty you might’ve gotten your friend in trouble. But why was he getting in trouble any how?

“It’s not your fault, Poff, it’s mine, this isn’t the first time I’ve snuck out to do something reckless without telling anybody.” Papyrus explained. “I really thought, I could be a hero, a really real genuine hero. But I guess not.”  
“Aren’t you an adult? I don’t understand why you’re in trouble.” You pressed the phone into the pit of his arm since he was busy using it for moping.

“Well, yes! And it’s not like I need permission to go where ever I’d like, its the ‘not telling anyone’ bit, if it’s going out into the city I don’t need to tell anybody, but something like this? And also maybe it was a really stupid idea and now all my friends are going to be worried about me,” he huffed, “I didn’t want to tell anyone because I knew it was stupid, and I knew they would either come with me, or talk me out of it! But I knew! In my bones! That I needed to come down here to fulfill some...”

“Obligation? Adventure? Quest?”

“Yes exactly! And now it’ll never be complete and I’ve failed on top of getting in trouble with my family.” he sighed again and screamed into the snow.

You shift your legs a bit, keeping it from going to sleep, “If it means anything, Papyrus, you’re my hero,”

His head whips around to you, eyes twinkling and a genuine grin that makes you uncomfortable. “Really!?”

“Well yes, you essentially saved me Papyrus, if I didn’t starve to death it would’ve been infection that had me, I needed a hero and there you were,” Pleased as peach to see Papyrus lifting himself from the ground you smiled up at him perking up.

“I’m so glad I actually did some good!” He giggled to himself, a grown skeleton man, giggling like a school girl at the very thought he may be a really real hero!

He sighed and relaxed, his eyes closed he murmured “thank you, human,”

  
  


A goofy smile was shared between the two of you. But honestly it was all too cheesy for you to bare for long, your hand inched sneakily to your side a soft cackle you couldn't suppress gaining levels of volume as your fingers curled around the snow. And for some odd reason Papyrus was returning those rising chuckles, double in malicious intent.

As soon as you threw the handful of snow your world turned white and your head pushed back from the sheer force. You hadn't thrown your snow ball at your face, then who? 

You shake it off to see Papyrus doing the same his shoulders shaking in suppressed giggles.

"You're going to regret that, Poff," And the game. _was_. **_on._**


	5. Still in the snow... is this a slow burn?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Your fears overflow and maybe you just can't really go forward without a good cry. And also reassurance.

Papyrus noticed how you always kept a distance from him. How could he not? Giving pats on the back or hugs were like second nature to him. But that goes for most people, right? So how could he not notice you shrinking away from any sort of contact, he did his best not to over step this boundary and he got better as time went on but he couldn’t help but take it personally.

Being on the surface enlightened him to the vast amounts of people and their unique types of behavior. And yet he didn’t quite understand why you were so…? Well he could almost say you were afraid of touch but you kept this disturbingly blank look on your face, and he wasn’t just thinking about Frisks bored resting blank face, there was this intensity to your eyes that made it seem like you were judging everything he was doing. Whether it’s good or bad judgment you left no indicator, just wide unblinking eyes and a resting frown that wasn’t a frown. It was just like how he can’t put his phalange on your strangely distant behavior despite the fact the two of you were playing in the snow and making games together. He had to wonder if he and you were friends?

Maybe you were a germ-aphobe? Or afraid of skeletons, or worse, monsters all together? Maybe you were allergic to touch? Or maybe it just made you uncomfortable? Can someone just be uncomfortable with touch for no reason?

Well he thought so, he met someone like that before, a young comedic teenager who loved crashing peoples parties just to perform magic tricks that had a 50/50 chance of failing and a 100% chance of being fantastically entertaining. No one minded she took some food as payment the chaotic feral nature she had wouldn’t really leave anyone brave enough to even politely ask her to leave. Her and Sans got along fine whenever they were together though, so Papyrus knew she must be a very great person! Just not the touchy feely type, which was fine!

Papyrus needed to learn boundaries anyway. What was her name again?

  
  


You were panicking. Especially as time wore on. A mantra of ‘oh gods’, ‘oh holy hells’, and ‘fuckfuckfuckfuck’s raced through your head as you thought about everything and anything that might go wrong everything that might go right and what the hell should you do?

All the while you were finalizing the details of your snowman. Intricate little designs in it snow, flowers, hearts, bumble bees, triangles, circles, stars, everything that pleased you to think about.

It wasn’t enough of a distraction from the choice you had to make. How did you want to do this? You knew you were going to meet characters from a fictional game you loved to play, you knew how insane you’d sound if you were honest, and you knew how dishonest and sketchy you’d sound if you were dishonest! Honesty was the best policy is what you chose to live by since you met Papyrus. For the most part. You weren’t being very honest with yourself with the whole infected toe thing, but you digress.

You couldn’t pretend you didn’t know them, well technically you didn’t, but on some level you did. But they don’t know you. And then there was the problem you don’t belong here. You don’t have an ID, you don’t have a profile, a job, a family, or anything! You were a blank slate and that’s not really a good thing considering how you might get deported! Get killed! Jailed! Or worse!! You can’t think of anything worse than being deported though, you wouldn’t let yourself be fooled into thinking there’s NOT anything worse. But you’re definitely not going to go down that rabbit hole.

Oh god what if you get kidnapped? Into a terrorist group? What if?? The government quarantines you and you’ll be drugged out of your mind forever and ever?

What was that about not going down that rabbit hole? Bye bye sanity! Or what left of it, you may just lose your god damn head if…! If…?

Well you’re not sure, nothing good comes to mind, nothing good can happen from this situation. No one knows you, no one cares about you enough to help you. At least not too much, sure yes, Toriel was kind enough to help you get out of here, but to what extent does her charity stretch? You surely wouldn’t blame her if she decided to nope out of this mess of a situation.

“Poff?” You can distantly hear Papyrus’ concerned voice from behind you, the ice and snow had melted into your cotton pants and it was so cold.

Only when you heard him approaching did you realize how still you were, how unblinking you were staring at the your somehow paler hands which were frozen in more ways than one with tiny glittery ice piling on the tips of your reddened fingertips.

“Poff.” you still hadn’t answered yet and you wish you could because Papyrus was really starting to sound concerned. Your jaw twitched, your hands slowly forced themselves down into your chilled lap. The hardest part was turning your head, when all you could see in your minds eye were all these horrible scenarios. You were stuck in your head. You can’t move, you can’t!

You felt two hands on your head, easily turning you to face Papyrus, too numb to pull away. “What’s wrong?” was all he asked, his features were distorted and funny looking. The kind of funny you’d feel when looking at a burnt up clown toy, it’s features distorted and grotesque. “Poff talk to me, I can help you, I need you to talk to the great Papyrus.”

Slowly your eyes melted from your distant glazed look, narrowing in on his more defined features. Your lip quivered, you blinked away the warm tears overwhelming your vision. All you could hear now were his words on repeat. ‘talk to me, I can help you,’. Can he? You doubted it, but for some reason you were just so incredibly tired you didn’t want to dwell on it further and argue with yourself or him about your doubts and fears. And because of this you just felt so sorry, so guilty, he worried over you like this. Was it genuine? Or was it obligation? Either way, an inconvenience is what you were. And you couldn’t even stop and say something to make this situation better. It didn’t even, it shouldn’t even _be_ a situation.

But here you were bawling your eyes out like some helpless toddler after finally cracking, sniffling, with a nose clogged from the disgusting snot.

What made it worse was how warm Papyrus’ hug was. What made it worse was how comforting and patient he was. What made it worse was that despite your insistence not to get snot all over his shoulder he still firmly held you and assured you it was okay. Why were you even crying again? You clung to a song, a little melody you thought you could hear in your heart as it sang to you.

You were so tired.

Weren’t you just having fun? Playing games?

You were just so tired.

  
  


You finally calmed down, his arms still holding you as you lightly dozed. You felt really serene now, mind cleared, and distantly embarrassed yet again by your actions. You hadn’t meant to be that way. You hadn’t meant to cry all over his shoulder, his puffy dark green jacket now lined with your slimey gross nose gunk.

  
  


“Do you have… tissues?” You ask quietly as the both of you observed each other.

He lit up in apologies, as if remembering something he shouldn’t have forgotten. Coming back with a small package of tissues he was surprised to see it being used on his shoulder and not on your nose.

He was amused. And maybe a little charmed by your concern for him first.

You dabbed at the mess, as if you were afraid. Far too gentle and soft.

Once cleaned up he held one up to your nose which you gratefully took and used. Your eyes stung in the cold from the cry and shutting them relieved it momentarily.

You decided you had had enough and pushed yourself off from his lap. You stood dizzily walked around in a circle to wake up your legs. Painfully prickly legs.

To papyrus you just looked odd turning in circles. He wasn’t sure what you were doing, he didn’t care to ask.

“How are you feeling, Poff?” The name really stuck, huh?

You looked at the ground near him, not meeting his eyes. “tired, embarrassed, and confused.”

He could understand tired and embarrassed, but confused? “Why are you so confused, human?” he could feel something in the back of his throat. A lump of sorrow, and compassion.

“I don’t know?” You answer honestly, “I don’t know why I-? I don’t know what happened, why did I do that? I didn’t mean to be so...”

“Overwhelmed? Anxious? Unsettled?” He threw out a few suggestions.

“Yes,” you agreed to them all, should you really feel so surprised he wasn’t being mean spirited about this? Why do you feel like, at any moment he’ll turn on you and say something… cruel?

“Well! I’d say it’s perfectly reasonable to feel that way, Poff!” You finally looked at him, baffled for some reason, had he given you any means to think he wasn’t understanding? Papyrus thought he was being very mindful! And maybe helpful? Hopefully helpful!

“Why?” You asked, as if you didn’t know yourself. How was anything you did reasonable? How can crying out of no where be reasonable? Understanding?

“If I had to take a guess, being down here alone in the dark for so long without any memories must be traumatic!” He nodded, you nodded taking in this explanation to heart, hating yourself less “but that’s just my guess!” he sweats a bit, maybe he’s wrong, wouldn’t you have cried sooner?

“I guess that’s a part of it,” you realize even though he’s right there’s more too it. You paced in place trying to remember what set it off. Most everything was a blur before Papyrus hugged you. “I think, just… Everything...” You waved vaguely around trying to gather your thought coherently, “I’m going to be meeting new people. People I don’t know. I… Don’t know who I am, where I’m from. I don’t know what will happen to me, anything could happen, and that uncertainty scares me.”

“Nyeh heh heh! You don’t have to worry, Poff!” He got up and stood in front of you, “My friends are the best, and since you love me, the great Papyrus, you’ll love my friends! It’s just math!”

You gave a fatigue ridden giggle, you wanted to argue with him on this, but- “right, it’s just math,” you were pleased as peach with the result.

A giddy skeleton was a skeleton worth settling a few fears in favor.

  
  


You had fallen asleep against a tree not long after a good talk. He told you everything about his friends, as much as he could remember in the moment at least. To rest your worries. But he hadn’t let you stay there. He knew humans did not do well in such extreme temperatures. And pleasantly, you let him carry you without so much as a protest. He could tell you still objected to it, but not enough to bother.

Besides, it was only for a little bit!

He had gotten a call from his brother, who was more than upset with his choice in how he spent his time tonight. They were thirty minutes away, he had said to meet him at their old home, there was no way Sans could teleport all the way from Newest Home so they had to drive. Every ones schedule today put on hold just because he felt a little adventurous.

But he knew Sans wouldn’t be upset for long, not for Papyrus! A vague annoyance at worst is what he’ll get when he meets up. It’s Undyne and Toriel he fears the most.

He settled you down onto his old bed, to his surprise you were still awake with how limp you were in his arms, though ‘awake’ was a strong word. You were trying your hardest not to fall asleep, curiously taking in your surroundings.

“thanks,” you had said, his whole house was so quiet your whispered words rang into the air. With a final yawn you left the waking world tucked in and warm.

He watched you and puzzled for a few moments before setting out to warm up the house. The core was still in use for the very few monsters who decided they liked the cave better than the sun for what ever reason. So power and heating wasn’t too much of a problem.

Boredom was, however, a problem.

  
  


“Little bro~!” a familiar sing song voice drifted into his waking conscious.

Then he felt a tickle at his nasal, and a more insistent melody “little broOoo~, wake up lazy bones, let’s go home.”

  
  


“Nyeh?” he finally opened his eyes, he saw his brother leaning over him from the arm of the couch, a feather in hand and a mischievous glint in his shadowed socket. Papyrus sprang up, “Nyeh!?” he looked around at the dusty room “Oh stars!”

“Whats the matter, paps?” Sans asked snidely.

“I fell asleep! I can’t believe I fell asleep!” Papyrus groaned to himself, exasperated.

“Yeah, I can’t believe it either paps, you’re getting just as lazy as me,” Sans sarcastically retorts rolling his eyes, ignoring his brothers break down in favor of actually looking around at his old home. Not really missing it at all, but it was nostalgic. “You said you made a friend? S’that true or do we need to get you checked for a concussion?”

“She’s in my room sleeping,” Papyrus seemed reluctant to actually go bother her yet, checking the time it’s only been fifteen minutes. “she’s had a long night,”

Sans spared him a strange look, “Well, we will need to get her up and going because Toriel is waiting out in the car. And also I kinda need sleep too so lets make this quick,”

“Right sooner we’re home, sooner everyone can rest,” Papyrus wrung his hands “I hope I didn’t inconvenience you too much brother,” he added shyly.

“Well, considering you ended up nabbing yourself a human and saving someone I can’t get too upset. Its probably for the best you went,” he shrugged non nonchalant “though, next time tell me your plans? I don’t want to wake up one day never knowing what happened to my bro if you get lost, or worse.”   
The shift in tone sent shivers down Papyrus’s spine he nodded hastily, the implication clear.

Sans was quiet a moment, his brows furrowed with worry “But you already knew that Papyrus, I don’t know how many times I’ve gotta remind you. It’s not like you’re stupid, why do you gotta worry everyone like that?” Papyrus was wrong, the disappointment his brother was handing out in droves was way worse than any scolding. “And I understand you’re a grown skeleton, and you don’t need to tell me every little thing you do, but stars sake,” to sans’ surprise he had a lot to say about this, and he was on a roll, “going to the mountain alone is a pretty big deal right?”

Papyrus shrunk into his shoulders feeling meek and small. He looked everywhere but sans’ intense eyelights, which were searching for some answers. Answers Papyrus wasn’t really ready to say yet because his reasoning for coming up here seemed so stupid now and he didn’t feel like giving stupid reasons and waving away Sans’ concern .

“You agree don’t you? Because there’s a problem if you don’t think so,” Sans had rarely ever needed to scold Papyrus, he was a good kid, slower to grow up than most but he raised well without an actual parent. It was only ever just Sans, who wasn’t that much older in retrospect, but he still took up that guardian role. He couldn’t help but feel like his childhood was stolen away, not that he blamed papyrus for it, he held no resentment towards his brother in fact he was glad he got to grow up normally. Just, now that Papyrus was an adult Sans was really hoping to leave behind that role and become his own person. Can he really do that if Papyrus was going to pull stunts like this? When Papyrus remains silent and somber, a heated anger rises in Sans, “Paps, listen, I cannot watch over you anymore, I have a job that’s taking up all my time and a whole lot of shit I need to sort through, you’re an adult now and you need to take responsibility over your own safety. I cannot do that for you, and I cannot force you to do the right thing when it comes to it either. If you really honestly want to go on adventures without telling anyone that’s on you I wont say another word about it but I can’t promise I’ll always be here, because I _can’t_ always be here for you when you run off **like that**. Do you understand?”

Papyrus’ eyes squeezed shut, he was ashamed of himself for not thinking of his brothers feelings in this. He wasn’t even asking that much from him, how can the great Papyrus mess up so badly? Had he really thought he could slip and out of the mountain without anyone noticing? Well, maybe, if he hadn’t called. But that really wasn’t the point nor did it matter.

He felt his brother grab his arm gathering his attention, a gentler look on his face, “I worry about you, all the time, and that’s just what big brothers do Paps. I love you, alright? I just don’t want anything bad happening to you,”

“I know, I’m so sorry Sans,” They hugged, holding tight before letting go.

“So long as you're safe, I’m good, now-” bro talk over he turned to Papyrus’ room in contemplation, “Would you like to go get her? Should I stay?”

“I’ll get her, be right back brother!” With a pep in his step he hurried up the stairs.

  
  


You absolutely did _not_ want to get up.

“No.” You had said, “No,” you had said again clinging to the sheets as he pulled at you, and “No!” to his perfectly heartfelt explanation as to why he was bringing you back from the depths of sleep. You didn’t really actually pay attention to him, you were just trying to doze off again. You had a lovely dream of swimming in a tea cup full of warm herbal liquid to get right back to.

But Papyrus was not playing games. If he had to take the mattress too he would. But luckily he was able to pry your fingers from the sides. Thank goodness because this would be much easier on Sans.

This time round you weren’t so complacent in being held, at _all._ Every step was a trial and whenever he dropped you, you were flat on the floor dozing off again.

“This is TOO DIFFICULT,” Papyrus raged, you legs too fond of kicking, your arms flailing and pushing, and you all together were just too squirmy. “Human! Please! JUST WAKE UP!” He boomed,

“I refuse!” if there was one thing to be determined about, it was in that moment that you would rather not do anything else other than sleep.

Sans wondered outside the door, he pondered if he should intervene. The thumps and yells were getting ridiculous. He listened closely his head to the door hearing his brother sigh in defeat, “what will it take to get you to get up,”  
and then the new softer voice “tea,” very simple request but, geez do they even have tea down here?  
Blipping from the door he arrived at the kitchen, cabinets were expectedly barren.

His brothers footsteps stomped down the stairs, huffing and puffing, Sans called out to him before he entered the kitchen his hand pushing the final cabinet he searched through, “’fraid we don’t got tea for that princess of yours Paps,”

Papyrus snorted less than amused, “Figures! And she doesn’t even need to walk!”

“Awe, I don’t wanna walk either,” Sans slumped against Papyrus who wheezed and pushed him away laughing.

“Not that I can’t handle more than one lazy bones, brother,” He gave Sans a pointed look, “let’s keep it at one, shall we? Unless-” he slapped his hand to his face, “oh how could I not realize! We don’t need her to get up! We just need to get her to the car!” He grabbed his brothers hand and lead up to the room where you were once again passed out on the rug.

“That’s a strange lookin human paps,” Sans remarked with mild interest, only seeing your strangely intense long hair draped over the floor.

“Do not be rude Sans, I believe it’s called being all-bye-no,” then he muttered, “all humans look equally strange anyway,” he tapped you, pleased when you hadn't moved.

“So we just gonna teleport from here then, no ‘hellos’? Or whatever?” Sans figured you must be exhausted.

“I really don’t think the human is up for that right now,” Papyrus crouches down gently lifting you, like he would a cat sleeping on his jacket. He didn’t want to wake you and have you kicking at him again. He held you under your shoulders away from himself. And surprisingly you slept well suspended in the air your head lolling back. Much easier than waking you. “Okay hurry, hurry hurry,” he stage whispered, “before she wakes up!”

“You-” Sans placed a hand on Papyrus’ arm, and the three were now in front of a little maroon van, its lights on and running, “-got it bro,”

“Thank you Sans,” Papyrus said, pleased with himself.

The door to the van clicked open, the ex queen wrapped in a bathrobe over her silky nightwear hustling out and towards them through the windy night air. She noted how Papyrus kept you at a distance and when she drew near he pulled you slightly away from her. “You made it, thank goodness, are you hurt? What’s wrong with her why isn’t she moving?” She frets the worst.

You gurgled drowsily and lifted your head drawing your knees up. “Huh-wha-?” you saw blurred green mixed with white, it was papyrus and- the stars. You hummed pleased seeing those.

“Poff? Are you awake dear? Oh my, is she okay, what happened?” Papyrus had put you down and you felt the dead leaves and cold sandy earth below your toes.

“m’ okay, who’s this?” You scrunched your eyebrows together confused blinking and yawning. Could that be the queen? “So tired.” murmured behind a hand.

“Other than being exhausted and malnourished she is in perfect health!” Papyrus solutes dutifully.

“That’s not perfect health,” Sans chuckles, “We should get her in the car, and some food.”

You grunted and frowned at Toriels prodding, your question going ignored, you did not like her paws on your face. They were soft, and warm and very wonderful and they needed to keep to themselves.

  
  


It wasn’t long that the four of you sat in the car, Papyrus having another serious talk with Toriel about running off without some form of safety. You had fallen into a light doze listening to them chatter. Not processing it at all, just in the moment and aware of how not even anxiety had kept you from slumping into some provided blankets and pillows in the middle seat. Glad for the extra comfort.

But you did notice, the anxiety roiling within Papyrus, you could almost feel him trembling. The others hadn’t noticed at all strangely. It annoyed you to no end, so to make it stop you grabbed his clenched hand and held it.

A surprised but pleased gasp could be heard. His anxiety had lessened and he squeezed your hand. You practically used it as a pillow and finally you were able to sleep.

But only for so long.

“Poff,” You heard someone say, who was decidedly not Papyrus because he was the one next to you giggling out a “She wont let go of my hand,”

“Poff!” the voice came again, something warm and crinkly pushed up against your nose and oh gosh- that smell, your eyes flew open and it was a burger in tin foil and paper. You lifted your head and blindly grasped for it, feeling strange in this body still.

Your face heated in embarrassment as you heard people laughing at you, so you stretched and did your best to come off nonchalant. “What’s going on?” you slurred, you felt a little better after sleeping, and unfortunately it looked to be day. Gray outside, chilly, but brighter. It was still nice seeing the sky again, you felt like it’s been more than forever.

“Food, see?” the burger was bouncing in your vision, a skeletal hand offering it to you, attached to the hand was none other than Sans, the skeleton. Huh. You didn’t know how to feel about it, about how Toriel was gleaming at you from her seat already eating her burger, how fuzzy she was and how pink her nose was and how sans looked nothing like a real skeleton but you weren’t about to stare.

Gingerly you took it, you tried not to think where it came from or how much it was payed for as you muttered a thank you. Living off mushrooms for days certainly left you feeling ravenous. You dug in, and try as you might you couldn’t stop yourself from downing it in five seconds flat.

“Woah,” Sans gasped, sockets widened. “uh, you were pretty hungry, how long were you stuck down there?”

You shrugged, “three days… maybe...” You guessed, you weren’t completely sure.

“Huh,” a thoughtful look crossed him, “well you want another?” he holds out an unwrapped burger which was undoubtedly his and already bitten into.

He was being so generous, so… Kind. It made you angry for some reason. “That’s yours, you need to eat too,” you said this a tad too aggressively.

“I’ll get another,” he defended, a little surprised by your tone. “Here, really, you’ll need it.”

You pursed your lips uncertain, “But, you’ll have to pay more, that’s not fair on you-”

Toriel burst out laughing only to apologize, “Oh Poff, my goodness, I’m sorry I don’t mean to laugh at your expense. But it really isn’t any trouble, if you are still hungry, please eat there’s no need to be concerned for our well-being.”

You looked to Papyrus helplessly, gaping like a fish. He nodded encouragingly and smiled. “Just eat already human,”

You took it without another protest and with a thank you and a nod, Sans told you “eat it fast again, do it,” like he was daring you.

“Sans! Do not be rude, she isn’t a road side attraction!” Toriel chides.

“She’s a road inside attraction!” Papyrus unhelpfully supplies.

Sans was about to retort when he noticed the burger was already gone, “What? I missed it,” He frowns. Well sorta frowns, it’s still a skeletal grin. Just not much of a grin anymore.

You smugly cackled, “I ate it even _faster_ ,” surprising yourself with how comfortable you were at the moment.

“Noooooo- okay I’m still hungry,” he slumps in his chair pointing to the restaurant in front of the car, an unknown burger joint you’ve never seen, looked really clean and neat with those warm gray bricks and polished wood. Those burgers tasted heavenly you hadn’t expected it to be a fast food restaurant. “to the McKingles,” he announced and before you knew it you were back on the road.

“I’ve never heard of-” you yawned, “-a mckingles before, sounds like a disease.”  
Papyrus snorts, “We better hope that is not the case, we might have a nation-wide governmental conspiracy on our hands.” despite what he said he gave a contemplative look as if he’d actually enjoy uncovering something so scandalous. ‘McKingles putting a chemical into their burgers causing a mass minute sickness too all Americans?’ yes, he could see the headlines now, ‘Papyrus once again saves human kind! Taking down to corrupt food chain!’. Actually on second thought, that sounded kinda lame.

You were busy trying to remember what your world had, you knew that there was an alternate food chain with similar aspects, but the name escapes you.

“Poff,” Toriel starts, hesitant “is that truly your name?”

“Papyrus gave me that name,” You side eyed him, he looked embarrassed. “I don’t remember mine.”

“I see, alright, what do you remember? Do you know how you fell down in the mountain? It’s very troubling to me because we took extra measures to stop people from advancing on the mountain,” she gave Papyrus a pointed look, if anyone could get passed the patrol, it’d be papyrus. She supposed losing his car for awhile was good enough punishment. But you? You didn’t look like you could even sneak passed anyone, you stood out with that shocking white hair.

You hummed, you didn’t… know what to say. The truth? You know exactly how insane you’d sound. And you didn’t want to be hauled off into some insane asylum so… you shrugged and gave a neutral hum.

“So a no?” Sans guessed, you felt like if you didn’t give a clear answer they’ll eventually lose their patience. But you didn’t want to lie. And you didn’t want to be rude.

“I-… Don’t know...” their silence was killing you, you could see Toriels face in the mirror, concern? Or was that annoyance? Were you reading this wrong? Were you being rude? Oh gosh you felt like you were going to throw up.

You instinctively swatted Papyrus’ hand away when he placed a hand on your shoulder. “Sorry!” He said immediately and you felt terrible “you just looked so stressed,”

“We really don’t have to talk about it,” Sans mentioned, “She’ll be answering to the police-”

“What?!” You screamed under your breath, “police!? Oh god-” okay you were going to throw up.

“Its just so we can get you back to your family! You’re not in trouble!” Toriel was quick to explain.

“She might be a little in trouble, I mean she crossed the boundaries and broke some laws just by being underground-” Sans rattled off,

“You’re not helping Sans!” Papyrus accused, “we can deal with that when we get there!”

“I’m just being realistic with her! I mean, she must’ve known before she went down there. You can’t just accidentally cross the border,”

You quickly unbuckled, and attempted to open the door, it was child proof locked. “I can’t go to _jail_ \- I can’t!” over your squeaky voice you heard Papyrus squawk and lunge for your hands which were scraping at the hidden locks. You suddenly didn’t care that you could get hit by another car or that you were attempting to jump out of one going 40+ miles an hour.

“Poff! Buckle yourself in now!” Toriel snapped, her motherly anxiety fueling her anger, but that only had you struggling in Papyrus’ hold with more vigor.

“Great!! Nice going Sans!” Papyrus snidely remarked over your head, you kicked out trying to dislodge yourself from his hold. You were careful not to kick anyones seats, you weren’t about to hurt anyone but you. Had. To. Go!

“How was I supposed to know she was going to react like this?” Sans chuckles.

“Read. THE. ROOM!” Papyrus wailed. Eventually you would tire yourself out. Right?

“It’s a car.” Sans corrected. You tried to rear your head up, but then you really didn’t want to hurt Papyrus so at most you tapped his chin with your head. You huffed frustrated so instead you attempted to twist out of his hold again.

Toriel snapped, “Sans enough! Poff, get ahold of yourself, you’re not going to jail, and for heavens sake buckle yourself in! Now! Or stars help me, I will turn this car around and chuck all of you into the mountain myself!”

“Please Poff, calm down,” Papyrus said low, “we’re only going to their office to help you. Promise,”

You did calm down, or you tried to, you felt more embarrassed than calm, “I’m not going to be locked up?” You asked,

“No! Of course not,” He soothed, you tried to get upright again but he held fast. You were extremely uncomfortable right now being pressed against someone else.

“Okay! Okay!” You relented, “I’m just buckling up, lemmie go,”

“She’ll get a hefty fine though,” Sans added, trying to contain his giggling when Toriel glared at him.

  
  


It was smaller and quieter than you expected it to be. Some nice wall art and fake plants along the wall. A nice young gentleman at the front desk with a kind smile gladly took in your situation in stride. After a miniature freak out over the ex queen of monsters, he was a fan it seemed.

Your bare feet padded on the clean tiles behind the gang. Hidden from view, hidden from the police. Were they nice? You weren’t sure, all you can imagine is them taking you away and cuffing you to someplace cold, small and unfamiliar.

The process was a blur, every moment of being herded here or there stressed you out even more. They were asking so many questions and even at one point you were alone. They took pictures of you, and you were alone, and you were alone, and you were alone.

Bright lights mixed with unknown blurred faces, some of their questions didn’t make any sense, they even had a doctor come in to this room you were being placed in to check up on you. Asking the same questions, maybe in a different way.

You felt spacey, and you became unresponsive at one point you don’t even remember when you came to. The doctor was talking to you but you couldn’t understand her. She gave up and walked out to the other room where the others sat and watched through the two way mirror. The news she had wasn’t great.

Dr. River was an average height woman, but everything else about her was anything but. Her hair pulled back into a bun had several streaks of reds and oranges that chases her starkly gray roots. She had several pins on her laniard multi colored and distinctly organ shaped. Only minoring in psychology, she was good at it but she probably not the best fit for this case. What ever happened to this poor girl must’ve been one of the worst.

Dr. River sighed closing the door behind her and taking her glasses off facing her strange audience with the detective in the back, she started with “She is currently unresponsive right now,” She glanced at their expressions, and as suspected they were worried for the most part. In her line of work Dr. River could always count on the compassion of monsters, “ I’ve scanned her soul and besides the concerning color, it shows signs of trauma for which I can only gather now with the limited equipment we have that she has c-PTSD, MDD, and SAD. Which would explain her stress response, though cases like these are rare in these parts we can still get her help.”

Detective Earnest who was leaning in the corner of the room decided to speak up, he was rifling through a very sparse manila folder, “We do not have any files on her at all, no information, no family, no trace, we’ve called across the border and not even our neighbor Canada has anything on her.” He had that rugged look about him, not even in proper uniform and hair graying and dark. There were bags under his shocking blue eyes and for his age he was rather fit, his skin looked rough and delicate all the same with timeless scars and thick dark hairs.

Toriel sat primly at her seat, it being a bit too small for her it looked ridiculous. She spoke up, her throat tying in knots, “So what does this mean?”

Detective Earnest was an earnest man, he spoke the truth and always the truth, blunt but empathetic, “It means that until she talks, we assume the worst, maybe she’ll never talk but what we can gather so far is this is obviously an abuse case, a child abuse case.”

“What how!?” Papyrus yelled, his volume gathering miles far to far what was necessary. The two humans unused to this behaviour flinched.

“Damn, boy, you got some lungs on you-er or… not?” Earnest laughed it off, though his poor old ears… Sans and Toriel shared an amused laugh. It quickly became somber once again as Doctor River continued.

“The signs of her soul pointing to her trauma is proof enough, she looks young enough that she might’ve just escaped from her abusers house hold. Because she was never registered into the system as a child we can only imagine she was being held in isolation all during her youth until now.” She let that sink in.

“right now, she has very few options on what to do, if she is capable of deciding for herself that is. Either we send her to a rehabilitation center for the mentally unwell where she can be closely monitored and cared for-”

Papyrus yelped, “we can’t do that! That is not an option,” it didn’t sit right with papyrus, having her be isolated from the real world once again.

Dr. River nodded in understanding, “Or we can find her a temporary guardian to watch over her and house her, all the while making sure she gets the proper treatment and counseling which of course will be paid for in advance.”  
Papyrus nods, “I accept!” He stood up excitedly, “I will house the human!”  
“What no!” Sans recoiled “That’s not happening, we don’t even know her, and she could be dangerous. Toriel can house her, right?” He looked to the ex queen,

Toriel shook her head, “I would love to help her, but I have a child within my care, it’s too risky for me and Frisk to have an unstable adult human within the same house. Though I will help if I can otherwise,”  
“So we just give her up to the government, Paps, they’ll take care of her they know how to,” Sans placated, the simplest solution was the best solution after all.   
“Sans we can’t just do that, if you’re really concerned just do your check thing, and if she really is that bad then yes… fine, but otherwise I am bringing her home with us!” Papyrus dug his heels in on this, it was the right thing to do, he knew it! “Besides, I captured the death soul! I should decide what happens to her!”  
“My judgement?” Sans sighed, getting up, “It’s the death soul Papyrus, I don’t know if I can-”  
Just try,” Papyrus gestured impatiently at you through the window, you weren’t moving, it was a little more than creepy and disturbing. “If she’s bad we’ll hand her over, if not, we are giving her a home.” Simple as that.  
“Temporary home,” Sans corrected, he huffed getting up, “fine, but don’t get your hopes up,”

“I’m sorry, what is he doing?” Dr. River spoke up concerned wondering if she should step in.  
“Nothing to worry about, my child,” Toriel eased her with a paw, “Sans has a special ability monsters don’t usually have, it allows him to cast judgement on other souls. He’ll be able to determine what sort of character she is without having to engage in combat or otherwise.”

“oh I see,” Dr River gave the detective a sharing look, one of curiosity and apprehension.

They watched Sans’ eyelights go out, and reignite into one shuddering light show of blues and yellows. “No way...” he gasped, then chuckled. He looked down at his chest and then back at yours. Then to Papyrus’ chest a few times. His eyes were smiling.  
“What do you see Sans?” Papyrus was wondering why he was looking at him like that.  
“You’re not gonna believe this Paps, I see two distinct links from hers to us.” he laughed as if it was some funny joke.

“You don’t mean…? “ Dr. River interjects.

“What? Links what’s the guy talking about?” Detective Earnest asked Toriel, who seemed to be just getting her jaw to work, delight dancing behind her eyes.

“Oh-!” She breathed, clasping her paws together, “Soul mates, how wonderfully rare!” She stood up and gathered Sans and Papyrus into her arms, “Congratulations you two, do you know what sort it is?” She put two dazed skeletons down, Sans’ eyes back to normal, “romantic? Platonic? Any idea?” she gushed.

“None at all, I just see links, not what type,” He nervously laughed.

“Alright, all of you calm down,” Dr River intervened, her hands waving down a silent question to sit down. “Soul mates or no, she still needs a plan, and as it goes for your relationship with her it will have to wait. Right now she needs stability, and as humans are we can’t tell who is or isn’t a soul mate, she will have to figure it out on her own because right now isn’t a good time to push that on her.”  
  
  


Papyrus nods seriously, he was very shocked but maybe not too surprised at the revelation. Good news it all was but, like the doctor said, you were in no condition for such things. “I agree,” He said, “me and Sans will take the upmost care to give her what she needs,” he smiled brightly, “soul mate just means future best friend! So, as her future best friend, I will house her as her temporary guardian!”

Detective Earnest nodded, “Great, I’ll gather the papers and hand you over to the right people, here,” he hands Papyrus his card, “This is my information, I’m acting as lead detective for Poffs case, if any information comes to light call me immidiately, Poff may be in good hands now but the hands that brought her up are still out there, she could have siblings for all we know and we need to find her abusers and bring them to justice.” Papyrus nods, “oh and one more thing, let me know when you guys come up with a proper name for her, I can’t take this as seriously as I’d like writing down _Poff_ ,” he chuckles and they all wave their goodbyes as he left.

“Wonderful, well,” Dr. River also hands him a few cards, “I suggest you call these people for her well being, if you want to search for more options you can, I do believe you will be meeting up with a few more people that will be over seeing Poffs case. I doubt you’ll need to do much convincing to the judge with Toriels word,” she nodded to the ex queen, her word was almost law. Toriel nodded back politely.

“Why would we need to talk to a judge?” Sans asked, human laws and all that need far too much effort to actually understand.

“Well, Poff needs an ID, a profile, to be a part of this society she will need to try for citizenship and because of her unique case it will be easier than most. But right now, don’t worry about that, Poff needs time to heal.” She looked over at you where you were still shut down from the world. “She needs a bed, a roof, and food, and as her temporary doctor I recommend no more stress.”

“Gosh I wish you were my doctor,” Sans sighed, “I could use a break too,” the others nodded in agreement.

“Wonderful, now that we have that sorted out we just need to sign some papers and you all can be on your way.”

  
  


  
  


“Hi,” you said numbly looking up at Papyrus in a daze, “am I done yet?”

“Dr. River was saying you weren’t answering her questions, but yes we’re going home now,” Papyrus pursed his teeth, grin tight, sweat on his forehead. Why’d he look like that?

“What’s wrong?”

He hesitated. And you took the moment to observe a very large mirror on the wall, this room you were in looked a lot like a room you’d find in a doctors. There was a camera with a big black screen and a marble counter full of jars and sanitizing items. You were sitting on a crunchy paper of a bed.

And an actual recording camera in the corner of the ceiling, and no windows at all.

Before he could respond you asked, “isn’t that a two way mirror?” You cringed at the thought of people you couldn’t see looking at you.

“Ah, yes, we’ve been watching you,” Papyrus explained, “The doctors saying your soul is _discolored._ And you might be suffering from… PTSD? And anxiety? And… depression.” He chuckles nervously, “that’s a lot,”

“oh,” you say, for some reason that didn’t come at a surprise to you, you knew that already. “that’s fun,”

“Well how are you feeling now?” He asks, you looked at your hands, you couldn’t feel them,

“Like I’m not here right now,” talking became a little bit of a hassle “I was so stressed,”

He nods, “that’s what Dr. River said,”

“Is that why you’re here? Because I’m stressed?” you had guessed, maybe they thought he would help you be less stressed and then they’d try asking more questions. Again, your soul shriveled at the thought.

“Well, yes, and also the fact that it’s time to go… no more stress, doctors orders!” He smiled broadly,

You nodded, you had questions, but you weren’t sure you were up to asking anything right now. You wanted to leave, you hadn’t seen a window for forever since you got here.

“great!” he held out a hand that promised freedom, “I was thinking of letting you stay in our guest room! Would that be sufficient? You will, unfortunately, be living with my brother! But on the bright side you’ll be living with me!” he stood proudly and you witnessed with interest his scarf flowing from an unknown source of wind.

“That balances things out considerably.” You agreed with him, but then you felt a twinge in your heart, “you’d… house me though?”

“Of course! As your loyal friend, I will gladly lend you a hand until we can figure out your future situation, which is a very strange one! And also why Toriel has decided we needed to keep an eye on you anyway!”

“Oh? An eye on me? I’m not a dangerous criminal am I?” you joked, tried to… You think it landed.

He laughed it off, “No, no! Just your soul, it turns out! I actually succeeded in my mission in capturing the death soul!” He pointed at you dramatically and stood tall.

“Me… I’m the death soul,” Flatly looking at him unamused.

“Yes! Indeed! Very strange, very mysterious! Possibly dangerous...” He trailed off.

“Dangerous!? I’m not- at least I don’t think I am!” You hobbled up forgetting to take his hand, cold tile still on your feet. You refused to wear the shoes provided which you found to your distaste too… constricting.

“No no no!” Papyrus was quick to say, “I mean! Ah, um! No! You’re not dangerous, I don’t think you are, and no one here thinks you are either!”

“Are you sure about that?” Your voice getting shrill, “I mean, why would they even call it a death soul! If it wasn’t dangerous!”

“We don’t know! And it’s okay! We’ll figure all that out later, the point is,” he pulled your attention to his face his hands on your shoulders, you didn’t pull away this time. “the point is, no stressing, no worrying, no nothing, we are going home now and no more questions!” he ushered you out to see Sans waiting for you, and Toriel signing some papers to the woman who was just talking to you before. You recognized her hair, but her face… you tried to burn it into memory.

“Here you are bud,” Sans chuckles at your wide eyed expression, as if you couldn’t believe this was happening. Was it really happening? Well, you weren’t sure, it was very surreal! “Excited to come home with me and Paps?”

You nodded dumbly, “Yeah… I am?” it’d be nice to not be alone in that cave anymore.

Wrapping up what she was doing Toriel lead everyone out “Great, we’re fifteen minutes away, wont be long now.”

“I’m really not going to jail?” You asked, “or being deported? Or kidnapped or quarantined and isolated and drugged and monitored forever and ever or-”

“No!” Papyrus cried out clambering into the van “we are going home!”

“You were really worried about that?” Sans wondered,

“Child, I hardly think Papyrus would allow such a fate to befall you.” She said from the front as you buckled in and flopped your face into the pillows and blankets.

“Awesome.” You said belated.

You heard Sans and Toriel chuckling, Papyrus ruffling your hair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapters are still slow going, but im still writing!  
> I havent lost my job, and because it's essential I'm still working. Nothings changed for me other than me dressing for a pandemic.   
> To my lovely readers, please be safe and exercise caution. This not only protects you but others around you. I had a guy who was clearly sick come in, some people do not know the weight of their actions or the levity of the sickness. There were children there for crying out loud!  
> So please, do your part by sitting at home, and reading my fanfiction. Thank you!  
> Also, I feed on kudos, and comments.   
> Stay safe!


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